Chukotka-Alaska Tunnel: Project of the Century or Diplomatic Mirage

Russia and USA may sign an agreement to continue designing a tunnel under Bering Straitwhich should connect Chukotka And Alaska. About this at SPIEF said the Kremlin’s special representative Kirill Dmitriev.

According to Dmitrievathe parties are allegedly preparing to sign an agreement to continue the design. He stated that “there will be a tunnel”. Sounds confident. Almost as confident as megaprojects that have lived for decades on paper, in presentations and in the heads of officials usually sound.

We are talking about a tunnel under Bering Strait – between Russian Chukotka and American Alaska. The idea is old: such a transition was first discussed seriously at the end of the 19th century. After the breakup USSR negotiations between Russia And USA periodically revived, but after 2014, annexation Crimea and a sharp collapse in relations, the project actually went into political permafrost.

Now he was brought into the world again – already against the backdrop of new contacts between Moscow And Washington after returning Donald Trump to power. For the Kremlin, this is a convenient picture: not sanctions, not Ukraine, not isolation, but a supposedly big infrastructure deal with America.

The project is beautiful. The problems are huge

Everything looks impressive on the map: connect Eurasia And North Americato build a transport corridor under the icy strait, to open a route from Russia to the USA. But the reality is much rougher.

It is not only the tunnel itself that needs to be built. It is necessary to pull roads, railway lines, energy, communications and service infrastructure through Chukotka – one of the most inaccessible regions of Russia. On the side Alaska the situation also does not automatically turn into a ready-made transport corridor to the rest of America.

There is also the main question: what exactly will be transported through this tunnel and who will pay for it. Without an answer to this, the project remains not an economy, but a geopolitical decoration. Very expensive decoration.

Why does Moscow need this?

For Russia tunnel under Bering Strait today it is important not so much as a transport project, but as a political symbol. The Kremlin needs to show that USA once again it is possible to discuss not only war, sanctions and the exchange of threats, but also “projects of the future”.

This is an attempt to change the agenda: instead of a country under sanctions, it is a participant in a large Arctic project; instead of isolation – a conversation with Washington; instead of war – infrastructure. The old diplomatic magic: if the reality is unpleasant, you need to draw a tunnel.

For Trump This idea can also be convenient. It fits the genre well “big deal”: Russia, USA, Arctic, resources, transport, jobs, historical project. The problem is that between a beautiful slogan and real construction lie sanctions, mistrust, money, security and engineering logistics.

Not a construction site, but a signal

Even if the design agreement is signed, this does not mean the start of construction. Design is paper, calculations, diagrams and political statements. Before a real tunnel, we need funding, interstate guarantees, sanctions exceptions, environmental assessment, infrastructure on both banks and an understanding of why the market needs all this.

For now the tunnel Chukotka-Alaska looks more like a diplomatic signal. Moscow shows: we are ready for big deals with Washington. Washingtonif he confirms participation, it will show: when Trump a new architecture of relations with Russia is possible.

But behind the loud formula there is still little specificity. There is no clear cost. There is no confirmed funding model. There is no clear route. There is no answer as to who will transport what. There is only an old idea, a new political moment and the desire to sell it as the project of the century.

Editorial comment

Tunnel under Bering Strait – a spectacular dream that is convenient to pull out every time Russia and the United States need to show the semblance of a great future. But for now this is not the construction of the century, but geopolitical “New Vasyuki” in arctic packaging.

If the project ever really gets off the ground, it will be a historic event. But today it looks more like a political showcase: the Kremlin wants to show a way out of isolation, Trump may get a picture of the big deal, and taxpayers and investors will someday have an explanation of why one of the world’s most complex tunnels suddenly became economically necessary. So far the explanation looks weaker than the presentation.

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