Russia revives Bering Strait tunnel dream, claims US agreement coming

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 7, 2026 – The long-discussed dream of physically linking Alaska and Russia by rail tunnel has resurfaced, with a top Russian official incredulously claiming that Moscow and Washington are preparing to move forward with engineering work on an underwater connection beneath the Bering Strait.

Kirill Dmitriev, special envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, announced Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that Russia and the United States will sign an agreement to continue engineering work on a tunnel connecting Russia’s Chukotka region with Alaska.

“As regards the tunnel, we have a piece of news for tomorrow that we will continue tunnel engineering. The tunnel will take place,” Dmitriev told Russian television channel Zvezda, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Dmitriev described the project as one of the largest infrastructure initiatives ever contemplated between the two countries.

The proposed tunnel would span roughly 70 miles beneath the Bering Strait, linking the North American and Eurasian continents for the first time. While the concept has circulated for more than a century, no US administration has formally endorsed such a project, and American officials have not publicly confirmed Dmitriev’s claims.

Dmitriev said he recently spoke by telephone with President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, regarding economic cooperation between Russia and the United States. No public confirmation of those conversations has been issued by the White House or other US officials.

“The most important topic is economic cooperation, as we see many joint economic initiatives that we can implement, and we are actively preparing them,” Dmitriev was quoted as saying.

He added that Russia is preparing potential joint investment projects with American partners, including projects located in Russia.

The tunnel concept gained renewed attention last October after a telephone conversation between Putin and Trump. Following that call, Dmitriev publicly appealed to Elon Musk through social media, proposing what he called the “Putin-Trump Tunnel.”

“Imagine connecting the U.S. and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel — a 70-mile link symbolizing unity,” Dmitriev wrote. He argued that conventional construction estimates exceeding $65 billion could potentially be reduced to less than $8 billion using tunneling technology developed by Musk’s company, The Boring Company.

Dmitriev pointed to the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s participation in construction of a railroad bridge linking Russia and China as evidence that major international infrastructure projects can be completed.

“The time has come to connect Russia and the US,” he wrote in a series of social media posts.

The idea of a Bering Strait crossing has a long history. Proposals for a rail connection between Siberia and Alaska date back to the early 1900s. Russia also explored a Bering Strait tunnel concept in 2007, while various private-sector and academic proposals have envisioned rail corridors connecting North America, Asia, and even Europe through Alaska.

For Alaska, the proposal raises enormous practical and geopolitical questions. Beyond the tunnel itself, any functioning rail connection would require thousands of miles of new railroad infrastructure across western Alaska, much of which currently lacks road access. The project would also face significant engineering challenges related to Arctic conditions, seismic activity, environmental permitting, and international security concerns.

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, construction would likely take many years. Dmitriev suggested the project could be completed in less than eight years, though no detailed engineering plan or financing structure has been released.

While Russian officials are presenting the concept as an emerging area of U.S.-Russia cooperation, there has been no public indication from Washington that an agreement exists or that the United States government is actively pursuing the project.