Kremlin Envoy Proposes Bering Strait Tunnel

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a special envoy to President Vladimir Putin, proposed building a roughly 70‑mile (≈112 km) undersea rail and cargo tunnel beneath the Bering Strait and personally invited Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to construct it. Dmitriev said the project—traditionally estimated at more than $65 billion—could be cut to under $8 billion and completed within eight years using Boring Company tunneling technology, with funding from Moscow and “international partners.” The proposal followed a call between Presidents Trump and Putin; Trump gave a guarded response, calling it “interesting” and saying he would consider it, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was unhappy. Reporters and experts warned of major engineering, environmental and political obstacles, citing the Bering Strait’s extreme cold, seismic activity, lack of local infrastructure and doubts about economic viability. Commentators also noted The Boring Company has no track record in such extreme conditions and has faced regulatory issues, and Musk had not publicly committed as of reporting.