The Moscow-proposed project envisages a direct 70-mile route under the Bering Strait to link the two countries
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has voiced his opposition to a Moscow-proposed project to build a rail tunnel under the Bering Strait between Russia and the US.
The idea, floated by Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev this week as a ‘Putin-Trump unity tunnel,’ envisages a 70-mile rail and cargo link which could unlock joint natural resource exploration.
Dmitriev, who also serves as head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), invited billionaire Elon Musk to offer his Boring Company, which builds underground “Loop” transport systems.
While meeting Zelensky at the White House on Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he found the idea of such a tunnel “interesting.” He then asked Zelensky for his reaction, who responded he was “not happy with it.”
The Russia-US tunnel project could cost over $65 billion, according to Dmitriev, who said that Musk’s Boring Company technology could cut it by 90% to under $8 billion and finish it within eight years. Dmitriev added that the RDIF, which helped build the first Russia-China rail bridge, was ready to take part.
The Bering Strait, which is 51 miles wide at its narrowest point, separates Russia’s Chukotka Region from Alaska in the US.
Dmitriev’s proposal followed Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna’s release of declassified Soviet files on the assassination of JFK, shared by Moscow this week. In addition to documents on the killing, the 350-page trove included a “Khrushchev-Kennedy Bridge” project to link the two nations.
READ MORE: Putin aide proposes direct Russia-US tunnel
Dmitriev’s idea came shortly after Thursday’s phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart. The two leaders, who in August held a summit in Alaska, have signaled plans to expand economic cooperation, and are expected to meet again in Hungary within two weeks for further talks.
