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.
10 thoughts on “Russia revives Bering Strait tunnel dream, claims US agreement coming”
Enter and pray for no eathquakes.
Think about the chunnel linking the British Isles to continental Europe.
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Now, tell me: What could possibly go wrong?
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And when were they planning to invite Alaskans to have their say in this?
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MASSIVE THUMBS DOWN!! 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
It’s easy to know when a commie is lying: When he opens his mouth.
This end should be pre- wired for demolition for WHEN the Russians,decide they want Alaska back badly enough.
How about a rail line through Canada to link with the rest of the US first?
This, exactly this!!. The Seattle Shipping Interests would throw an enormous hissy fit over their lost monopoly. It would also moot their Jones Act rent-seeking
The Russians will be the first to build a rail line to Nome!
Everyone has the right to be stupid on occasion, but Comrade Dmitriev abuses the privilege (with apologies to Leon Trotsky for the slightly modified quote).
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Small matters of U.S. Treasury sanctions against Russia and Russia’s war against Ukraine …maybe these should be resolved first, Kirill?
(https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0612)
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A tunnel …what better way to help the Russian government traffic people, drugs, and who knows what else into America?
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“The Government of Russia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Russia remained on Tier 3. During the reporting period there was a government policy or pattern of trafficking of Ukrainian citizens and North Korean workers.”
(https://ru.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/182/2025/10/Russia-TIP-Report-Country-Narrative.pdf)
Say what you want but in my opinion it’s not a bad idea.
First a rail line is a bottle neck, control and inspection of anything and everything entering and leaving the country is relatively easy.
If your gonna be a bear be a grizzly bear, a transcontinental rail from say above Saint Petersburg to somewhere above Nova Scotia, north south feed lines from all over Europe and Asia and the Americas, could, would open markets and reduce costs.
Run a rail in an arctic environment? Actually there are lots of advantages in doing so. Much of the arctic coastline is essentially a peneplain, next to zero grade no hills to climb, railroads love that!
There are a few minor bits of high terrain along the way but nothing Musk’s Boring company couldn’t handle.
But but but what about the big hot locomotives thawing the permafrost and destroying the wonderful arctic? Actually, as most know, railroads are built atop berms, long gravel piles. If such berms were say, six feet high, the 32° isotherm would be 3 or 4 feet above the permafrost, no thawing.
Another advantage of the high berms is in snow storms they’d be mostly self clearing, snow drifts would build beyond the berms, not on the rail right of ways.
Bottom line, if such resulted in say even 3% of intercontinental trade passing through Alaska, tariffs etc. would probably be enough to support pretty much all of our state and local government, goodbye property, sales, etc. taxes!
Since Putin lost the war to Ukraine and there are no young men left in Russia to build anything, over one million soldiers killed in this war with Ukraine, Putin the “thug” thinks he is building something to Alaska underground and ocean , no less. Not to Alaska that is for sure. From the 200 mile limit to the shore, Russia is out of luck. Makes a person wonder what Putin and his crew have been smoking in their pipes , lately. NO to Russia and that is a fact!