The Kremlin Wants Elon Musk to Build a Tunnel From Russia to the U.S.

Building a tunnel across the Bering Strait, from Russia to Alaska, is an idea that’s been around since at least the 1950s. And the Kremlin apparently thinks it’s good enough to revive, if the CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund is to be believed.

Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, tweeted the idea on Thursday, complete with a map of where the tunnel might be built. And he thinks that billionaire oligarch Elon Musk would be the man to do it.

“@elonmusk, imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel – a 70-mile link symbolizing unity. Traditional costs are $65B+, but @boringcompany’s tech could reduce it to <$8B. Let’s build a future together!” Dmitriev tweeted^[1].

President Donald Trump was asked about the proposal by a reporter at the White House during a press availability with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday. Trump called the idea an “interesting one,” but said, “We’ll have to think about that. I hadn’t heard that,” according to CNBC^[2].

How feasible would a tunnel be? Theoretically, it’s entirely possible. But Elon Musk might not be the guy to do it. The billionaire CEO has over-promised and under-delivered when it comes to his tunneling projects. Musk has often floated big ideas, but when it comes time to actually do them, he will frequently produce something much less fantastic.

Dmitriev tweeted about a proposal for a “Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge,” which was imagined in the early 1960s.

From the Soviet JFK docs released by @RepLuna^[3]: Kennedy–Khrushchev World Peace Bridge “could and should be built between Alaska and Russia at once.”

With modern @boringcompany technology this can become a Putin-Trump tunnel connecting the Eurasia and Americas for < $8 billion pic.twitter.com/c84VK75rh5^[4][5]

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) October 16, 2025^[6]

But the idea is even older, as you can see from the March 3, 1959, edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s “Closer Than We Think” Sunday comic strip^[7].

From the strip:

Sen. Magnuson of Washington has a bold new idea for linking our newest state, Alaska, with Siberia via a bridge or vehicular tunnel across the 30- to 40-mile stretch of shallow waters of the Bering Strait. It would go from Wales, on the tip of Seward Peninsula, to Little Diomede and Big Diomede Islands, thence to Peyak, Siberia.

The Senator forecasts this hook-up within the lifetime of the present generation, to create a rail and highway route between points as distant as New York and Paris. “I am convinced,” he says, “that the tourists who one day will drive this route will be our best ambassadors!”

Is the idea of a tunnel connecting Russia and the U.S. just a troll by the Russian government to poke at Trump during a time when the country continues to wage war against Ukraine? Almost certainly. But that doesn’t mean a tunnel couldn’t happen in the future. Especially if Trump makes another wild pivot and decides he doesn’t want to help Ukraine anymore.

In fact, there were some signs that Trump is ready to throw in the towel on Friday. Trump posted on Truth Social^[8] about his meeting with Zelenskyy, describing it as “very interesting, and cordial,” and said that he wanted the killing to stop and for the Ukrainian leader to make a deal. And then he went into some weird territory.

“Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent. This is a War that would have never started if I were President. Thousands of people being slaughtered each and every week — NO MORE, GO HOME TO YOUR FAMILIES IN PEACE!” Trump wrote.

We may or may not get a tunnel between the U.S. and Russia anytime soon. But it feels like peace between Russia and Ukraine is further away than ever.