A project put forth by Moscow outlines a 70-mile direct route beneath the Bering Strait, intended to connect Russia and the United States.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has expressed his disapproval of a plan, suggested by Moscow, to construct a railway tunnel under the Bering Strait, connecting Russia and the U.S.
This concept, presented by Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev earlier this week as a ‘Putin-Trump unity tunnel,’ envisions a 70-mile rail and freight connection with the potential to facilitate shared natural resource exploration.
Dmitriev, concurrently serving as the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), extended an invitation to billionaire Elon Musk to involve his Boring Company, known for developing subterranean “Loop” transit systems.
During a meeting with Zelensky at the White House on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump informed reporters that he considered the tunnel concept “interesting.” He subsequently requested Zelensky’s opinion, to which Zelensky replied that he was “not happy with it.”
The Russia-U.S. tunnel initiative might exceed $65 billion in cost, per Dmitriev, who stated that technology from Musk’s Boring Company could reduce this by 90% to less than $8 billion and complete it within eight years. Dmitriev further noted that the RDIF, instrumental in the construction of the inaugural Russia-China rail bridge, was prepared to participate.
The Bering Strait, measuring 51 miles at its most constricted width, delineates Russia’s Chukotka Region from Alaska in the U.S.
Dmitriev’s suggestion emerged after Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna made public declassified Soviet documents concerning the assassination of JFK, which Moscow released this week. Alongside files on the assassination, the 350-page collection featured a “Khrushchev-Kennedy Bridge” plan aimed at connecting the two countries.
Dmitriev’s concept was put forward shortly after a Thursday phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart. The two leaders, who convened for a summit in Alaska in August, have indicated intentions to broaden economic cooperation and anticipate another meeting in Hungary within two weeks for additional discussions.