Thomas Nilsen

Novaya Zemlya mine needs 450 workers

Exploration starts next summer and recovery of ore could start a few years later in what will be the largest mine in the Arctic.
November 19, 2015

Arctic heat wave ahead of climate talks

The Arctic, including Svalbard, was 2 to 4 degrees warmer in October than the 1951-1980 average, according to newly released data from NASA.
November 18, 2015

Santa’s beds are fully booked

More than 500 flights are expected to Rovaniemi in what could be the best ever tourist season.
November 17, 2015

Lipponen asks EU to launch “missing link” railway to Kirkenes

November 15, 2015

Russia plans ballistic missile test from the White Sea this weekend

November 13, 2015

First illegal border-crossing on migrants' Arctic Route

FSB sent warning two weeks ago, on Friday it happened.
November 13, 2015

Russian tourism to Finland plummets

Finland has lost one third of its Russian visitors and expects incomes to halve, a new reports shows.
November 13, 2015

Former military camp turned into Arctic migrant center

Rajan from Nepal hopes to get permission to stay in Norway after bicycling across the border from Russia. Today, Europe’s northernmost refugee camp opened outside Kirkenes.
November 11, 2015

Rosatom says no urgent need for Kola NPP-2

Studies start to see if oldest reactor at Kola nuclear power plant can get a 60-years lifetime before retirement.
November 10, 2015

Recommends pocket fluff to overloaded border checkpoint

Immigration officials are working outdoor in snowy, cold weather and in barracks with open doors, but a government appointed expert group says there is no urgent need for new facilities at Storskog.
November 09, 2015

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Thomas Nilsen is editor of the Independent Barents Observer with its news desk located in Kirkenes, northern Norway. He has a long experience in media cooperation across the borders in the high north of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Nilsen has been editor of Barents Observer since 2009.

He was Deputy Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat from 2004-2009. Until 2003, he worked 12 years for the Bellona Foundation’s Russian study group, focusing on nuclear safety issues and general environmental challenges in northern areas and the Arctic. 

Thomas has been traveling extensively across northern Scandinavia and Arctic Russia since the late 80’s working for different media and organizations. He is also a guide at sea and in remote locations in the Russian north for various groups and regularly lectures on security issues, environmental and socio-economic development.

Thomas Nilsen studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Mobile: +47-90573143

thomas@thebarentsobserver.com
@nilsen.thomas