President Trump Weighs In On Putin’s Proposal To Build Tunnel Linking Alaska And Russia

President Trump has responded to Russia’s proposal of building a tunnel that connects Russia with Alaska.

On Thursday officials from the Kremlin outlined a new idea that would would link the U.S. and Russia via the Bering Strait.

The plan gets more interesting.

Kirill Dmitriev, who serves as Putin’s investment envoy, wants to hire Elon Musk’s Boring Company to get the job done.

Fox News reported how President Trump has responded to the plan:

The Kremlin has suggested that Russia and the United States build a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link the two nations, according to a proposal from one of President Vladimir Putin’s top investment officials.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), outlined the idea Thursday, Reuters reported.

The plan calls for a 70-mile rail and cargo tunnel to be built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company within eight years at a projected cost of $8 billion. The project, Dmitriev said, would be funded by Moscow and “international partners.”

“The dream of a U.S.–Russia link via the Bering Strait reflects an enduring vision — from the 1904 Siberia–Alaska railway to Russia’s 2007 plan,” Dmitriev wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “RDIF has studied existing proposals, including the U.S.–Canada–Russia–China railroad, and will support the most viable.”

The proposal came after former President Donald Trump reportedly spoke by phone with Putin and agreed to meet in Budapest to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine.

The Bering Strait separates Russia from Alaska. The small Diomede Islands — one controlled by Russia and the other by the U.S. — sit in the middle of the strait, and are separated by 2.4 miles, Reuters reported.

Dmitriev suggested The Boring Company as the builder, citing its tunneling technology as a way to dramatically cut costs.

“Imagine connecting the U.S. and Russia — the Americas and Afro-Eurasia — with the Putin-Trump Tunnel, a 70-mile link symbolizing unity,” Dmitriev wrote in a post directed at Musk. “Traditional costs are $65B+, but @boringcompany’s tech could reduce it to less than $8B. Let’s build a future together.”

Watch Trump here:

CNBC provided further context about the tunnel:

Dmitriev’s suggestion followed a call between Putin and Trump on Thursday, during which plans were made to discuss possible resolutions to the Ukraine War.

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other high-level advisors will meet next week with a Russian delegation before Trump and Putin meet in Budapest, Hungary, at a future date.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment about the proposal.

Construction of an undersea tunnel in the Bering Strait would require Musk’s Boring Company to work through below-freezing temperatures in a region without existing infrastructure and with deep and frequent earthquakes.

The Boring Company has no track record of working through such conditions.

Its previous tunneling efforts were completed in hot, dry locations with plenty of infrastructure and services nearby.

The Boring Company was recently fined and cited by environmental regulators in the state of Nevada for an “extraordinary number of violations,” ProPublica reported, citing public records. Those violations included: digging without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets and spilling waste from trucks.

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The Boring Company is now working on a 10-mile tunnel project from downtown Nashville, Tennessee, to its airport, dubbed the Music City Loop. Residents protested, in part, due to the lack of planning before The Boring Company project was authorized in the flood-prone city.

Musk’s automaker, Tesla, has supply chain ties to Russia, and the CEO has spoken with Putin about other matters in the past few years.

The EV maker has purchased millions of euros worth of aluminum from Rusal, a company founded by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, CNBC previously reported.