A Kremlin envoy has suggested the 70-mile tunnel would be built under the Bering Strait and link the US and Russia in a multi-billion dollar project using Elon Musk’s US tunnel construction company
Moscow has put forward a plan for a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel built by Elon Musk – which would link Russia and the US in a symbol of “unity”.
The 70-mile tunnel would be built under the Bering Strait and unlock joint exploration of natural resources, a Kremlin envoy has suggested. Kirill Dmitriev – Putin’s investment envoy and CEO of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund – said the project would be funded by Moscow and “international partners”, costing $8bn (£5.9bn). The proposal suggests using The Boring Company, a US tunnel construction company owned by Elon Musk, to built the bridge in under eight years.
READ MORE: Russians flood streets singing banned song calling for Putin to be overthrownREAD MORE: Sweden stockpiles food for first time since Cold War as threat from evil Putin looms
Dmitriev said the tunnel would typically cost upwards of $65bn (£48.5bn) but the technology from Musk’s firm’s could bring the cost down to $8bn. He introduced the tunnel idea late on Thursday after Putin and Donald Trump spoke in a phone call – with the Russian President agreeing to meet in Budapest for talks on securing peace in Ukraine.
“The dream of a US-Russia link via the Bering Strait reflects an enduring vision – from the 1904 Siberia-Alaska railway to Russia’s 2007 plan. RDIF has studied existing proposals, including the US-Canada-Russia-China railroad, and will support the most viable,” Dmitriev wrote on X.
The Bering Strait is 51mi (82km) wide at its narrowest point and separates Russia’s Chukotka region from Alaska. There have been talks to connect the two points for at least 150 years, with a number of projects proposed but never implemented. Dmitriev wrote to Musk on X: “Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel – a 70-mile link symbolizing unity.”
He added that a similar idea – the construction of a ‘Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge’ – was proposed during the Cold War and shared a sketch highlighting the route it may have taken between Chukotka and Alaska.
“RDIF has already invested in and built the first ever Russia-China railroad bridge. The time has come to do more and connect the Continents for the first time in human history. The time has come to connect Russia and the US,” Dmitriev said. Musk has not yet commented on the proposal.
