Overview
- Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy and head of RDIF, is pitching a 70‑mile undersea rail and cargo tunnel under the Bering Strait priced at about $8 billion and finished in under eight years with international partners.
- Dmitriev publicly invited Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build the link, claiming its tunneling technology could cut conventional cost estimates from $65 billion or more to under $8 billion.
- Asked in Washington, President Donald Trump called the idea “interesting,” while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “not happy” with it.
- Dmitriev said a feasibility study began six months ago, but Musk and The Boring Company have not committed and no formal negotiations, contracts, or financing arrangements have been announced.
- Independent reporting highlights major seismic, environmental, and logistical obstacles in the remote region and notes The Boring Company lacks experience in such conditions.