Thomas Nilsen

Lapland gets pumped-storage hydropower in drive towards green transition

The energy storage project in northern Finland will serve as a giant battery producing electricity when wind and solar can’t produce due to weather conditions.
December 14, 2023

Severodvinsk could get new giant shipyard for ice-classed vessels

The Russian despot Vladimir Putin discussed options for building a large new shipyard when he on December 11 met with Governor Aleksandr Tsybulsky in Arkhangelsk.
December 14, 2023

“José” turns Mikhail. GRU colonel admits being Russian national

The “hybrid threats” researchers who managed to infiltrate the Centre for Peace Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway finally told police investigators he isn’t Brazilian born.
December 14, 2023

"This is a fight for freedom and it is also a fight for us," Støre told Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy unexpectedly arrived in the Norwegian capital directly from Washington D.C. to meet Nordic leaders a few hours after Russia launched yet another massive ballistic missile attack on civilian infrastructure in Kyiv.
December 13, 2023

Finland keeps northern border crossings closed, opens in south

Vaalimaa and Niirala checkpoints will open for traffic with Russia on December 14.
December 12, 2023

Activists block test-drilling for minerals in Lapland

Europe’s green transition pushes for more mines to open. Test drilling in what is believed to be an exceptionally rich copper and nickel deposit in northern Finland, however, was Tuesday morning stopped by environmentalists.
December 12, 2023

Less than half who fled war mobilization have returned

Pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia estimates that 40% of the young men who ran abroad after Putin’s partial mobilization in September 2022 have returned. Other sources suggest the numbers are even less.
December 12, 2023

Putin beefs up naval nuclear arsenal, promises more subs

Putin on Monday attended the flag-raising ceremony for the two nuclear-powered submarines Krasnoyarsk and Imperator Aleksandr III at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk.
December 11, 2023

Russia prepares law requiring foreigners to sign 'loyalty agreement'

Visitors might soon have to sign a consent forbidding them from expressing anything anti-Russia.
November 29, 2023

Here comes Arkhangelsk, a submarine that will boost the Northern Fleet’s hypersonic missiles capabilities

A solemn ceremony was held for the K-564 Yasen-M class multi-purpose submarine at the Sevmash shipyard in the north Russian city of Severodvinsk on November 29.
November 29, 2023

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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