(NewsNation) — Russia’s presidential envoy says that the country and the United States will sign an agreement Friday to continue designing an underwater tunnel connecting Russia’s Chukotka region to Alaska across the Bering Strait.

Kirill Dmitriev made the announcement Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“As for the tunnel. We will have news tomorrow, we are signing an agreement that we will continue the design of the tunnel. There will be a tunnel,” he told Russian outlet TV Zvezda, according to a translation.

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The Bering Strait separates mainland Russia and mainland Alaska by around 50 miles at its narrowest point. Two small islands — one owned by Russia and one owned by the U.S. — sit in the middle of that distance. Geographically, the distance is fairly short and the water is relatively shallow, with an average depth of 98–164 feet. The strait is just south of the Arctic Circle, where construction efforts would face extreme temperatures.

Dmitriev introduced the “Putin-Trump Tunnel” idea last October. He estimated construction could cost more than $65 billion using conventional methods, or under $8 billion using technology from Elon Musk’s tunnel-digging venture, The Boring Company. The company operates the Vegas Loop tunnel transportation network in Las Vegas, which came under legal scrutiny in February for safety and environmental concerns.

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Dmitriev says he spoke by phone with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries. U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed the call.

The tunnel announcement is part of a larger push by Moscow to deepen economic ties with Washington. In February, Russia’s Foreign Ministry submitted proposals to remove barriers to “restoring” relations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had proposed a $12 trillion economic cooperation package to the U.S.

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