Thomas Nilsen

Russia’s high-profile Arctic dialog conference too big for the Arctic

The bi-annual conference ‘The Arctic - Territory of Dialogue’ will not return to Arkhangelsk or any other northern cities in 2021.
January 22, 2020

Finnair expands across northern borders; Bodø, Murmansk and Tromsø

New for the summer is Bodø with two flights per week directly from Helsinki.
January 20, 2020

Slow TV to feature Svalbard round the clock for nine days

Fascinating viewers for hours and days, the Norwegian slow TV concept takes it to the ultimate with the longest ever program starting on January 31st.
January 20, 2020

Improved road between Murmansk and Ivalo boosts cross-border travel

The growth in travelers from Murmansk to northernmost Finland was more than twice the 2019-growth on the Russian-Norwegian border.
January 20, 2020

In a last move as PM, Medvedev secured funding to first Lider-class icebreaker

On January 15th, the same day as he delivered his resignation, Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution allocating 127 billion rubles (€1,85 billion) to build a nuclear-powered icebreaker bigger and more powerful than anything that previously has sailed in icy Arctic waters.
January 17, 2020

Northern Fleet aviation to get new sub hunters

The rebuilt version of the passenger aircraft Tu-204/214 will be Russia’s equivalent to the U.S. built Boeing P-8 Poseidon that Norway, among others, will deploy for surveillance flights over the Barents- and Norwegian Seas.
January 16, 2020

Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev steps down

Russian prime minister submitted his resignations shortly after President Vladimir Putin’s annual state-of-the-nation address on Wednesday.
January 15, 2020

Arctic shipping boycott gains support among big businesses, but not all are happy

Three of the world’s top five shipping companies and a growing number of consumer goods producers have promised to stay away from Arctic trans-shipment routes.
January 14, 2020

A new ‘Barents Stream’ pipeline could fuel Europe with Arctic gas

A new study shows that several gas transport options from the Barents Sea, including a new pipeline, could prove profitable with today’s known resources.
January 13, 2020

As ‘flight shame’ grows, northern Scandinavia airports see mixed impact

January 13, 2020

Pages

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