Putin’s special envoy says Russia and the US have started discussing the idea of building a tunnel to Alaska
18 October 15:11
Russia and the United States have begun discussing a tunnel construction project to connect Chukotka and Alaska through the Bering Strait.
This was announced by Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s special representative for economic cooperation with foreign countries and chairman of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“The discussion of the tunnel [between Russia and the United States] is starting,” he wrote on the social network X.
According to Dmitriev, the project could become a symbol of unity between the two countries. Earlier, US President Donald Trump called the idea interesting and said he would like to “think about it.”
“I recently heard about [the idea of] a tunnel from Russia to Alaska. I had never heard of it before. We just built a great road in Alaska. It will give us access to a lot of minerals,” Trump said.
on October 17, Dmitriev publicly invited Elon Musk to take part in the construction of a tunnel under the Bering Strait, which, according to his plan, should be called the Putin-Trump Tunnel. He addressed the founder of the Boring Company through X, calling for a joint effort between Russia and the United States.
“Imagine a tunnel connecting the United States and Russia, America and Afro-Eurasia – the Putin-Trump Tunnel, a 70-mile link symbolizing unity. Let’s build the future together! It’s time to connect the continents for the first time in human history,” he wrote.
According to Dmitriev’s calculations, the implementation of such a project would cost approximately $65 billion, but with the use of Boring Company technologies, the cost could be reduced by almost eight times to less than $8 billion. He also expressed confidence that the tunnel could be built in less than eight years.
The head of the RDIF emphasized that his fund is ready to participate in financing the construction. Dmitriev noted that the “dream of connecting Russia and the United States through the Bering Strait” has been around for a long time, and the foundation has studied various options, including a US-Canada-Russia-China rail link, to support the most viable project.
Kirill Dmitriev is a member of the Russian delegation to the talks with the United States and in February 2025 was appointed Vladimir Putin’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries. In August, he was part of the delegation during Putin’s visit to Alaska.
