On October 17, Russian President’s Special Representative for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation and President of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitryev presented a bold idea, saying that Russia and the United States should build a “Putin-Trump” railway tunnel in the Beirut Strait, connecting the two countries and opening a joint exploration of natural resources.
The proposal attracted the attention of U.S. President Trump, but made Ukraine President Zelensky dissatisfied. According to the New York Post, when Trump met with Zelensky at the White House on the 17th, he asked Zelensky his views on the Russia-US tunnel project. Zelensky bluntly said that he did not like the idea, which attracted laughter from Trump and others at the scene.
Trump and Zelensky spoke for several hours at the White House to discuss a wide range of issues, including long-range weapons. Trump made it clear that the U.S. will not currently provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles it seeks that can penetrate Russian territory.
The video shows that during the talks, a reporter asked how Trump viewed Dmitriyev’s proposed White Lagoon Tunnel project, and Trump replied, “I just heard about a tunnel from Russia to Alaska, and I just heard about this.
Trump then turned to Zelensky and asked him what he thought of the tunnel project: “Mr. President, what do you think about the idea?” and Zelensky answered, “I don’t like the idea.”
Zelensky’s response caused a laugh, and Trump also laughed: “I guess you won’t like the idea!
Dmitriyev proposed the idea of the Russian-American Bering Strait Tunnel on social platform X on the 17th. He quoted a Soviet-era document as saying: "The Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge can and should be immediately built in Alaska and Russia. With the help of Boring Company's modern technology, this could become a Putin-Trump tunnel connecting Eurasia and the Americas."
He believes that this joint Russian-American project can create jobs, open joint natural resource exploration, promote economic development and "symbolize unity".
"The Russian Direct Investment Fund has invested and built the first Russia-China railway bridge, and now it is time to connect the mainland for the first time, connecting Russia and the United States," he added."The dream of connecting the United States and China through the Bering Strait reflects a lasting vision... The Russian Direct Investment Fund has studied existing proposals, including building a U.S. -Canada-Russia-China railway, and will support the most feasible options."
Boring Company is a tunnel-building company owned by US billionaire Musk. Dmitryev spoke to Musk on the X-Plattform, claiming that the traditional cost of the Bayreuth Tunnel is more than $65 billion, "but Boring Company's technology can reduce it to $8 billion. Let's build the future together."
Dmitriyev also issued a document on the 18th, adding that the Russian direct investment fund "started the feasibility study of the Russia-Alaska Tunnel six months ago."
The New York Post that Musk and Boring Company have not responded to Dmitryev's proposal.
Sketch of Bering Strait Tunnel route released by Dmitriev Social media
Reuters mentioned that the Bering Strait is about 82 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, which separates Russia's vast and sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Region from Alaska in the United States. At least 150 years ago, someone proposed the idea of connecting the two places. Deomede Islands, located in the middle of the Bering Strait, one island belongs to Russia and the other belongs to the United States. The two islands are only about 4 kilometers apart.
However, the report said that building such a tunnel would cost huge amounts of money, and building and upgrading infrastructure on both sides of the Bering Strait would also cost huge amounts of money. The New York Post also pointed out that building an undersea tunnel near the Bering Strait will be a difficult task, which means that construction workers will need to work in an environment with frequent earthquakes and extremely low temperatures.