President Donald Trump remarked on Friday that a Russian suggestion for Elon Musk and his tunneling enterprise, the Boring Company, to construct an undersea rail tunnel across the Bering Strait was “interesting” and that he would need to consider it further. “That’s an interesting one,” Trump remarked when queried about the proposed tunnel connecting Russia to Alaska. “We must consider that.” He said he was not previously aware of that information. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his dissatisfaction with the notion in light of Trump’s response. Kirill Dmitriev, an investment envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicated in posts on X that the project would receive partial funding from Moscow. Dmitriev remarked that it would represent “a 70-mile link symbolizing unity.” A tunnel of this nature would typically incur an estimated construction cost of $65 billion, according to Dmitriev. He noted that The Boring Company and its technology could feasibly lower those expenses to $8 billion and achieve project completion within an eight-year timeframe. “Let us construct a future collaboratively,” he articulated.
Dmitriev’s suggestion came after a conversation between Putin and Trump on Thursday, in which they outlined plans to explore potential resolutions to the Ukraine War. Trump indicated that Marco Rubio, along with other senior advisors, is scheduled to convene next week with a Russian delegation prior to the anticipated meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, Hungary, at a later date. Musk did not provide a response to the inquiry regarding the proposal. The construction of an undersea tunnel in the Bering Strait presents significant challenges, necessitating the involvement of Musk’s Boring Company to operate in sub-zero temperatures within a region characterized by a lack of existing infrastructure and a propensity for deep and frequent seismic activity. The Boring Company lacks a history of navigating such circumstances. The prior tunneling endeavors were executed in arid, elevated temperature environments characterized by abundant infrastructure and nearby services.
The Boring Company has recently faced penalties and citations from environmental regulators in Nevada due to an “extraordinary number of violations,” as per reports. The violations encompassed unauthorized excavation, the discharge of untreated water onto municipal thoroughfares, and the spillage of waste from vehicles. The Boring Company is currently engaged in a 10-mile tunnel initiative connecting downtown Nashville, Tennessee, to its airport, referred to as the Music City Loop. Residents expressed their discontent, partly stemming from the insufficient planning that preceded the authorization of The Boring Company project in the flood-prone city. Tesla, the automaker led by Musk, maintains supply chain connections to Russia, and the CEO has engaged in discussions with Putin regarding various issues over the past few years. The electric vehicle manufacturer has acquired millions of euros in aluminum from Rusal, a firm established by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
In October 2024, sources reported that Musk engaged in clandestine discussions with Putin in 2022. In a particular case, it was reported that Putin exerted pressure on Musk to instruct SpaceX to refrain from providing Starlink, its satellite internet communications service, to Taiwan as a courtesy to Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the sources. Beijing serves as a pivotal ally to the Kremlin. The dialogues between Musk and Putin, a former KGB operative, are said to have taken place while Musk was engaged in a leveraged buyout and acquisition of Twitter, currently referred to as X. In collaboration with NASA, Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor, SpaceX, has successfully transported Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station.