Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said that the 112-kilometers  (70-mile) “railroad and cargo link” between Siberia and Alaska would “unlock joint resource exploration” between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump, who has pledged to “drill, baby, drill” during his second term, told reporters on Friday that he found the proposal “interesting” during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During the meeting, Trump turned to Zelenskyy and asked for his opinion on the tunnel. The Ukrainian leader replied that he was “not happy with this idea.”

Dmitriev, who also serves as CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has suggested that the United States could join Russia and China in joint “hydrocarbon projects in the Arctic,” referring to expanded oil drilling. “Certainly, Russia is eyeing the opportunity for joint Russia–China–US projects, including in the Arctic region, specifically in the energy sector,” Dmitriev said in September, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Russia and other Arctic nations are reportedly planning to expand mining operations in the region as climate change causes polar ice to recede. Dmitriev also proposed that Musk’s The Boring Company could participate in the project, tagging Musk in a post on X, the social media platform owned by the South Africa–born billionaire.

“Let’s build a future together,” Dmitriev wrote to Musk on X, promoting the project as one that would “symbolise unity.”
 “Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and Afro-Eurasia, with the Putin–Trump Tunnel,” Dmitriev added.

As of Friday evening (US time), Musk had not publicly responded to Dmitriev’s post. Dmitriev’s online promotion of the tunnel coincided with a two-hour phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday night, ahead of a planned meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump said would take place within two weeks. The Kremlin has confirmed the meeting. (Aljazeera)