Russia and the United States should build a railway tunnel under the Bering Strait that would connect the two countries and become a symbol of unity, suggested Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), quoted by "Reuters".
The project, which he calls "Putin-Trump Tunnel", envisages the construction of a 112-kilometer railway and freight tunnel to be completed within eight years. According to Dmitriev, the cost of the venture will be around $8 billion, financed by Moscow and "international partners".
The proposal comes after a phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, in which the two leaders agreed to meet in Budapest to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine.
Dmitriev said that the idea of connecting Russia and the United States through the Bering Strait has a long history, dating back to 1904, when a railway project between Siberia and Alaska was discussed. Similar plans were revived in 2007, as well as during the Cold War, when the construction of the "Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge" was proposed.
The investment envoy suggested that the American company The Boring Company of billionaire Elon Musk be the general contractor for the construction.
"Imagine connecting the USA and Russia, America and Eurasia, through the Putin-Trump tunnel — a connection that symbolizes unity. The usual costs are over 65 billion dollars, but @boringcompany technology can reduce them to under 8 billion. Let's build the future together," Dmitriev wrote on the X platform, addressing Musk.
So far, neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk have commented on the proposal.
The Bering Strait is about 82 kilometers wide at its narrowest point and separates the Russian Chukchi Peninsula from the US state of Alaska. In its center are the Diomede Islands, one of which belongs to Russia and the other to the US, and are separated by only four kilometers of water.
Dmitriev stressed that RDIF has already participated in the construction of the first railway bridge between Russia and China, and added: "It is time to take the next step and connect the continents for the first time in human history. It is time to connect Russia and the United States."