Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s presidential special representative for foreign investment and economic cooperation, recently proposed collaborating with the United States to build a “Putin-Trump Tunnel” across the Bering Strait to connect the two countries and jointly explore natural resources. During a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on the 17th, U.S. President Trump was asked about the proposal by reporters. Trump called the proposal “interesting,” but Zelenskyy responded that he was “not satisfied.”
According to Agence France-Presse and Reuters, Dmitriev put forward the idea on the evening of the 16th on the social media platform X of American entrepreneur Elon Musk. He stated that the concept of a “peace bridge” between Russia and the U.S. state of Alaska dates back to the Cold War and released a route sketch from that era, as well as a diagram of a possible route for the new tunnel.
Dmitriev proposed that the tunnel be built by Boring Company, a tunneling enterprise owned by Musk, arguing that while traditional construction costs would exceed $65 billion, the company’s technology could keep the cost under $8 billion.
The Russian mainland and the U.S. state of Alaska are separated by the Bering Strait, with its narrowest point being about 82 kilometers wide, while the closest distance between islands belonging to Russia and the U.S. is only about 4 kilometers.
On the very same day, Trump had a phone call with Russian President Putin, after which it was announced that the two leaders would meet soon in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Reuters reported that Dmitriev made the proposal after the call, suggesting it was a charm offensive from Russia aimed at launching the tunnel project and restarting bilateral relations.
According to AFP, during his meeting with Zelenskyy at the White House on the 17th, Trump was asked about the Russian tunnel proposal and said: “A tunnel from Russia to Alaska… interesting.” He said he had just learned of this potential cross-border project and asked Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, what do you think of that?… What do you think of the idea?” Zelenskyy, for his part, responded: “I am not satisfied with this.”
