Thomas Nilsen

Gasification hope fades away in Murmansk region

Utilization of stripping gases generated during storage and reloading of LNG will not be practical for gasification of the Murmansk region, according to a new report.
December 09, 2019

White Sea closed off for weapons testing

Russia’s new - and most advanced - nuclear powered submarine is one of the vessels continuing shootings.
December 09, 2019

New ship to handle all nuclear waste from Rosatom’s Arctic operations

The new special purpose vessel will serve the new icebreakers and the floating nuclear power plants and possible other reactor installations
December 05, 2019

FSB to build yet another new building in Murmansk

The decision to build one more office complex for the security service comes only three years after the Stalin-styled new headquarters opened.
December 04, 2019

Border traffic up 20 percent

25.877 border crossings were counted in November.
December 02, 2019

Nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile tested over the Barents Sea

The Kinzhal missile was launched from a MiG-31K taking off from Olenegorsk airbase on the Kola Peninsula.
December 01, 2019

Norway greenlights copper mine with tailings to be dumped in Arctic fjord

Protests from the indigenous Sami people, local fishermen and environmental groups were turned down by the government.
November 30, 2019

Plastic waste on polar bears’ menu a growing problem

Plastic waste makes up a quarter of the diet for polar bears, says Ivan Mizin, research director of Russian Arctic national park.
November 27, 2019

New hypersonic missile to be tested in White Sea before Christmas

The Tsirkon scramjet-powered cruise missile is said to travel at a speed making it impossible to intercept by any known means.
November 27, 2019

Russia removes critical voices ahead of Arctic Council chairmanship, claims Indigenous peoples expert

Moscow highlights the Arctic as territory of dialogue, but a recent court order might indicate that not everyone is welcomed to that dialogue.
November 27, 2019

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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