Kremlin’s Russia-Alaska tunnel pitch to Musk is ‘interesting’

President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia’s offer to Elon Musk and his tunnel business Boring Company to build an undersea rail tunnel across the Bering Strait is “interesting” and that he should think about it.

“That’s an interesting thing,” Trump said when asked about the proposed tunnel from Russia to Alaska. “We’ll have to think about that. I hadn’t heard of that.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “not happy” with the idea after Trump’s reaction.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, suggested the following in his posts on Musk’s social media: platform x He said the project would be partially financed by Moscow.

Dmitriev said it would be “a 70-mile connection symbolizing unity.”

Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said construction of a tunnel like this would traditionally cost an estimated $65 billion, adding that The Boring Company and its technology could potentially reduce those costs to $8 billion and complete the project within eight years.

“Let’s build a future together!” he wrote.

Dmitriev’s proposal came after a meeting between Putin and Trump on Thursday, in which plans were made to discuss possible solutions to the Ukraine War.

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top advisers will meet with a Russian delegation next week before Trump and Putin meet in Budapest, Hungary, at a later date.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal.

Construction of an undersea tunnel in the Bering Strait would require Musk’s Boring Company to operate in sub-freezing temperatures in a region with no existing infrastructure and deep and frequent earthquakes.

The Boring Company has no history of operating under these conditions.

Previous tunneling efforts have been completed in hot, dry locations with plenty of infrastructure and services nearby.

The Boring Company was recently fined and charged by environmental regulators in the state of Nevada for an “extraordinary number of violations.” ProPublica it was reported, citing public records. These violations included: excavating without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets, and dumping waste from trucks.

The Boring Company is currently working on a 10-mile tunnel project from downtown Nashville, Tennessee, to the airport, called the Music City Loop. Residents protested in part because of a lack of planning before The Boring Company project was given permission in the flood-prone city.

Musk’s automaker Tesla has supply chain ties with Russia, and the CEO has met with Putin on other matters over the past few years.

The electric vehicle maker purchased millions of euros worth of aluminum from Rusal, a company founded by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, CNBC previously reported.

Musk had secret meetings with Putin in 2022. Wall Street Magazine Reported in October 2024.

Putin once pressured Musk to order him to withhold SpaceX’s satellite internet communications service, Starlink, from Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Journal reported, citing two people with knowledge of the request.

Beijing is a critical ally for the Kremlin.

The conversations between Musk and Putin, who once led the KGB, reportedly occurred in the midst of Musk’s acquisition and takeover of Twitter, now known as X.

Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor SpaceX also worked with NASA to launch Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station.

CNBC’s Chris Eudaily contributed to this story.