Russian tycoon has no Alaska tunnel plan

LONDON, March 28 (UPI) -- Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire who owns the Chelsea Football Club in Britain, denies any plans to dig a tunnel under the Bering Strait.

Russian newspapers had suggested that Abramovich, whose company announced the planned purchase of the world's largest drill bit Thursday, wanted to construct a Channel Tunnel-style rail link between Siberia and Alaska. But a spokesman says that is untrue.

"This connection is entirely fictitious," John Mann told The Daily Telegraph.

German news agencies have suggested that Infrastruktura, Abramovich's Russian construction company, could make more than a billion dollars a year renting out the drill bit. Der Spiegel reported that it will be used to construct tunnels in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, the designated site for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The drill is made by Herrenknecht AG, a German company that is one of the world's leading makers of tunneling equipment. Herrenknecht was involved in the construction of the two tunnels under the English Channel.