By Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia and the United States should build a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link the two countries, unlock joint exploration of natural resources and “symbolize unity”, a Kremlin, a Kremlin envoy has suggested.
The proposal by Kirill Dmitriev, President’s Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, envisages a construction project costing 8 billion dollars funded by Moscow and “international partners” to build a 70-mile (112-km) rail and cargo link in under eight years.
Dmitriev, who has helped spearhead a Russian charm offensive designed to revive U.S.-Russia ties, floated the tunnel idea late on Thursday after Putin spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump by phone and agreed to meet in Budapest to try to find a way to stop the war in Ukraine.
PROPOSAL TO INVOLVE COMPANY OWNED BY MUSK
“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, which is 51 miles (82 km) wide at its narrowest point, separates Russia’s Chukotka region from Alaska. Ideas to link the two points have been around for at least 150 years, with various projects drawn up but never implemented.
Dmitriev, who has forged ties with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, and spoken of the possibility of U.S. energy majors taking minority stakes in Russian projects in the Arctic, suggested the tunnel could be built by The Boring Company, a U.S. tunnel construction company owned by Elon Musk.
“Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel – a 70-mile link symbolizing unity. Traditional costs are $65B+, but @boringcompany’s tech could reduce it to <$8B. Let's build a future together," Dmitriev wrote to Musk on X.
There was no immediate public response to the idea from Musk or Trump.
Dmitriev said a similar idea – to build a “Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge” – had been floated during the Cold War and published a sketch from that era of the route it might have taken, along with a graphic showing the route the new tunnel could take 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,” said Dmitriev.
(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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