The major media in the United States and Russia gave prominent coverage to the Oct. 16 proposal by Kremlin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev for the United States and Russia to jointly build a tunnel under the Bering Strait, and to U.S. President Donald Trump’s characterization of the proposal as “interesting.” The relatively straight coverage in most media, with accompanying maps taken from Dmitriev’s original post, suggests an understanding that a game-changer has just been put on the agenda for the upcoming Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest on settling the Ukraine war. The following headlines and brief quotes give a sense of the coverage:
• USA Today: “A Tunnel from Russia to Alaska? Trump Calls Kremlin Proposal ‘Interesting’”
• Fox News: “Russia Proposes ‘Putin-Trump Tunnel’ with Elon Musk’s Help To Connect Nations under Bering Strait.
• Reuters: “Kremlin Envoy Proposes a ‘Putin-Trump Tunnel’ To Link Russia and U.S.” The wire added: “Dmitriev, who has helped spearhead a Russian charm offensive designed to revive U.S.-Russia ties, floated the tunnel idea late on Thursday [Oct. 16] after Putin spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump by phone and agreed to meet in Budapest to try to find a way to stop the war in Ukraine.”
• CNBC: “Trump Says He’ll Think about Kremlin’s Russia-Alaska Tunnel Pitch.”
