Kremlin envoy proposes building 'Putin-Trump' tunnel connecting Russia and the US

(Patria) - Russia and the United States should build a "Putin-Trump" railway tunnel under the Bering Strait to connect the two countries, enable joint exploration of natural resources, and "symbolize unity," Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev proposed, Reuters reported.

The proposal by the envoy of President Vladimir Putin for investments and head of the Russian Sovereign Fund RDIF, envisages a $8 billion construction project, to be financed by Moscow and "international partners," which would build a 112 km railway and freight connection in less than eight years.

Dmitriev, who helped lead Russia's charm offensive designed to revive US-Russia ties, put forward the idea late on Thursday after Putin spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump and agreed to meet in Budapest to find a way to stop the war in Ukraine.

When asked by reporters about the idea on Friday during a meeting in Washington with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump called the idea "interesting" and asked his guest what he thought of it.

"I am not satisfied with this idea," said Zelenskiy, drawing laughter from the US side.

Musk's The Boring Company proposed as contractor

"The dream of connecting the US and Russia across the Bering Strait reflects a lasting vision – from the 1904 Siberian-Alaska railway to Russia's 2007 plan. RDIF has studied existing proposals, including a US-Canada-Russia-China railway, and will support the most sustainable ones," Dmitriev wrote on social network X.

The Bering Strait, 82 km wide at its narrowest point, separates the vast and sparsely populated Russian region of Chukotka from Alaska. Ideas for connecting them have existed for at least 150 years. The Little Diomede Islands, one Russian and one American, are located in the middle of the strait, only 4 km apart.

Dmitriev, who established a working relationship with Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, suggested that American energy giants could join Russian projects in the Arctic and proposed that the tunnel be built by The Boring Company, an American tunnel construction company owned by American billionaire and occasional Trump ally Elon Musk.

"Imagine connecting the US and Russia, America and Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump tunnel – a 70-mile connection that symbolizes unity. Traditional costs are over $65 billion, but @boringcompany technology could reduce them to <$8 billion. Let's build the future together," Dmitriev wrote to Musk on X.

There was no immediate public response from Musk.

In addition to the tunnel itself, the construction and upgrade of infrastructure on both sides of the strait would cost a huge sum. Existing roads and railways in Chukotka are, at best, sparse.

Dmitriev said that the plan for the "Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge" across the strait was proposed during the Cold War. He published a sketch from that era of the route the new tunnel could take, with a graphic showing the route the new tunnel could take.

"RDIF has already invested in and built the first railway bridge between Russia and China. It is time to do more and connect continents for the first time in human history. It is time to connect Russia and the US," said Dmitriev.