Russia is pitching a plan to build a tunnel connecting Russia and the United States beneath the Bering Strait in less than eight years, with an estimated price tag of about $8 billion (347 billion hryvnia). Moscow is proposing that Elon Musk’s The Boring Company execute the project.
The plan was announced by Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Russian president’s special representative for international economic cooperation, according to the state news agency TASS.
Dmitriev said the project, given the working title “Putin-Trump Tunnel,” envisions a 70-mile (more than 110 kilometers) underwater link between Russia’s Chukotka region and Alaska. He said the infrastructure would symbolize “unity between continents” and open new avenues for economic partnership.
“Imagine connecting the U.S. and Russia, America and Afro-Eurasia, with the Putin-Trump Tunnel — a 70-mile link that symbolizes unity. Traditional costs are more than $65 billion, but technology from The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk, could bring that down to less than $8 billion. Let’s build the future together,” he wrote on X.
The official said the tunnel would carry rail and freight traffic, potentially boosting international trade, creating jobs and stimulating economic growth.
“RDIF has already invested in building the first-ever railway bridge between Russia and China. It is time to do more and, for the first time in human history, connect continents. It is time to connect Russia and the U.S.,” Dmitriev said.
The idea of a transport tunnel between Siberia and Alaska across the Bering Strait has been floated since the early 20th century. Previous estimates put traditional costs at more than $65 billion (over 2.8 trillion hryvnia).
Earlier, Focus reported that Italy and Austria will be connected by a record-setting railway tunnel carved under the Alps.
