Thomas Nilsen

"An honor," says chess champion Kasparov after inclusion on Moscow’s extremist list

Russia's chess icon Garry Kasparov was Wednesday added to the "terrorists and extremists" list compiled by Putin's regime.
March 06, 2024

Russia keeps close eyes on Nordic Response as NATO expands in the north

A pair of Tu-142 maritime surveillance planes follows NATO maneuvers in the Norwegian Sea, while the Northern Fleet has several warships in the Barents Sea. Russian media and commentators perceive Nordic Response exercise as “offensive” and “provocative”.
March 06, 2024

Substantial expansion of trout farming in cooling water of Kola nuclear power plant

Russia aims to reduce dependence on Norwegian fry imports. The expanded facilities next to Kola nuclear power plant in Lake Imandra will by late 2026 release four million rainbow trout fry every year.
March 04, 2024

Crossings down another 5% in February as multi-entry visas expire

There were just over 4,000 crossings at the Norwegian-Russian border in February.
March 03, 2024

Yars nuclear-missile test from Plesetsk

The launch was expected and comes less than a day after Putin bragged about Russia’s nuclear weapons capabilities in his annual state of the nation speech.
March 01, 2024

Northern Fleet sails out two frigates, one landing ship as NATO forces move north for exercise

“Planned combat training tasks,” the Northern Fleet says as the two frigates “Admiral Kasatonov” and “Admiral Gorshkov” this week left Severomorsk.
March 01, 2024

Russian caught for taking photos of military object in northern Norway

The Russian citizen was fined and expelled from Norway, the police in Finnmark inform.
February 26, 2024

Putins signs northwestern regions into Leningrad military district

Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree reestablishing the Soviet-era Moscow and Leningrad military districts which means an end to the Northern Fleet as a military district. The changes are valid from March 1st.
February 26, 2024

Northern winter destinations gets bombarded by selfie-taking tourists

Heavy snowfall, polar night and freezing cold. The trend for tourists taking selfies with astonishing Arctic backgrounds is filling up planes and hotels in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
February 26, 2024

More trouble on Kiruna-Narvik (de)railway shortly after reopening

An iron-ore train Saturday evening derailed and again caused a halt in traffic on Europe’s northernmost cross-border line. The incident happened only four days after the railway reopened after being closed for two months after the last derailing accident. Police is investigating possible sabotage.
February 26, 2024

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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