A Kremlin envoy has proposed building an undersea tunnel linking the United States and Russia, suggesting it could be constructed with the help of US billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.
Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev revealed that the 112-kilometre (70-mile) “railroad and cargo link” between Siberia and Alaska would “unlock joint resource exploration” opportunities between the two countries.
US President Donald Trump, who has promised to “drill, baby drill” during his second term, called the proposal “interesting” during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During their meeting, Trump asked Zelenskyy for his thoughts on the tunnel idea. The Ukrainian leader responded that he was “not happy with this idea.”
Dmitriev, who is also the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has suggested that the US could join Russia and China in joint “hydrocarbon projects in the Arctic,” referring to expanded drilling for oil. “Certainly, Russia is eyeing the opportunity of joint Russia-China-US projects, including in the Arctic region, specifically in the energy sector,” Dmitriev said last month, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
As climate change causes polar ice to recede, Russia and other Arctic countries are reportedly planning to expand mining operations in the region.
Dmitriev also proposed that Elon Musk’s The Boring Company could become involved in the tunnel project. He tagged Musk in a post on X, a social media platform owned by the South African-born billionaire. “Let’s build a future together,” Dmitriev wrote to Musk on X, promoting the project as “symbolising unity.”
“Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel,” Dmitriev added.
As of Friday evening US time, Musk had not publicly responded to Dmitriev’s post.
Dmitriev’s proposal came as Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a two-hour phone call on Thursday night ahead of a planned meeting in Budapest, Hungary. Trump said the meeting would take place within two weeks, and the Kremlin has confirmed it.
The Bering Strait, which is 82 kilometres (51 miles) wide at its narrowest point, separates Russia’s vast and sparsely populated Chukotka region from Alaska. Proposals to link the two countries have existed for at least 150 years.
The small Diomede Islands—one Russian, the other American—sit in the middle of the strait, only 4 kilometres (2.4 miles) apart.
Dmitriev recalled that a plan for a “Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge” over the strait had been considered during the Cold War. He shared a sketch from that era showing the route it might have taken, along with a graphic illustrating the path the new tunnel could follow.
“The time has come to do more and connect the continents for the first time in human history,” Dmitriev said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/18/kremlin-envoy-proposes-putin-trump-tunnel-to-link-russia-us?traffic_source=rss
