Witkoff and Kushner aware of Bering Strait tunnel project — Dmitriev

ST. PETERSBURG, June 5. /TASS/. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and special presidential representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, said that US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner are aware of the Bering Strait tunnel project.

"They are aware," Dmitriev told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) when asked if Witkoff and Kushner knew about the initiative.

Dmitriev also emphasized that new solutions would reduce the project's overall financial burden.

"We have now tasked the designers, and we see that new design solutions can significantly reduce expenditures, so we are studying them. The final step is a feasibility study. We have even attracted the interest of several colleagues from Asia to participate in the design phase. <…> Modern technologies drastically cut the previously estimated costs, and we believe this is starting to become economically feasible. However, of course, a massive amount of infrastructure will need to be connected to the tunnel from both sides. So, many questions remain open," he noted.

Earlier, Dmitriev said he hoped to complete the design phase of the "Putin-Trump Tunnel" under the Bering Strait by the end of 2026 and believed that even China could join the project.

SPIEF is taking place on June 3-6. This year's main theme is "Pragmatic Dialogue: The Path to a Stable Future." The forum's program focuses on shaping a new model of global development amid the transformation of the world economy. The Roscongress Foundation is the organizer of the forum, with TASS serving as its general information partner.