A close advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the construction of a railway tunnel between Russia and the United States, named “Putin-Trump”, as a symbol of unity and cooperation between the two powers.
The proposal came from Kirill DmitrievPutin’s special envoy for investment and director of the Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIFwhich defends an 8 billion dollar project to connect the Russian region of Chukotka to Alaska, through the Bering Strait, reports Reuters. The tunnel, about 112 kilometerscould, according to Dmitriev, be completed in less than eight years.
Dmitriev shared the idea shortly after a telephone conversation between Putin e Donald Trumpcurrent US president, who agreed to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks to discuss a possible end to the war in Ukraine.
Asked about this proposal during the meeting on Friday (October 17) in Washington with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr ZelenskiyTrump reacted with curiosity: “It’s an interesting idea,” he said, before asking Zelenskiy what he thought. The Ukrainian leader replied, smiling: “I’m not happy with that idea at all”, making the North American delegation laugh.
Elon Musk in the equation
Dmitriev suggested that the construction be carried out by the The Boring Company, of Elon Muskarguing that the company’s technology could drastically reduce usual costs – from $65 billion to less than $8 billion.
“Imagine connecting the continents, uniting the United States and Russia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel — a symbol of global unity,” wrote Dmitriev on the X network (formerly Twitter), directly addressing Musk.
So far, the businessman has not publicly reacted to the proposal.
An old dream
The idea of a link between Alaska and Siberia is not new. Since the 19th century, engineers and politicians have dreamed of a passage that unites the two sides of the Bering Strait, the minimum distance of which is just 82 kilometers. At the height of the Cold War, the construction of a “Kennedy–Khrushchev World Peace Bridge” was even suggested.
Still, the challenge is gigantic. Chukotka, in Russia’s far east, has limited infrastructure, and both the Russian Arctic and northern Alaska would require huge additional investments in roads, railways and ports. to make the tunnel functional, remember the Reuters agency.
The proposal comes at a time of some diplomatic thaw between Moscow and Washingtonafter months of discreet negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine. Dmitriev has been one of the most active voices in trying to bring the two countries closer together, promoting economic and technological partnerships.
“RDIF has already financed the first railway bridge between Russia and China. Now it is time to go further and connect continents, for the first time in the history of humanity”, said the Russian envoy.