Thomas Nilsen

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

Tatiana’s right to hold a picket in solidarity with Pussy Riot up for ECHR judgments

November 26, 2019

Russian journalists and bloggers with income from abroad can now be labelled ‘foreign agents’

Not one single parliament member voted against when the State State Duma on Thursday adopted the third and final reading of the law giving authorities the right to designate any writer, photographer or video-blogger as ‘foreign agent’.
November 22, 2019

U.S. nuclear sub loads torpedoes in Norway before sailing to track Russian subs

«USS Minnesota» takes part in the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between NATO and Russian subs in the Norwegian Sea.
November 21, 2019

Old copper smelter in Monchegorsk faces closure, brand new under consideration

Nornickel says modernization of the old factory is impossible.
November 21, 2019

Nornickel to boost Taimyr mining by 75% to support the world’s shift to electric mobility

The company says it can supply enough battery packs to reduce global CO2 emissions by 50-100 million tonnes over the electric vehicles life cycle.
November 20, 2019

Northwest-Russian news-site Sever.Realii declared ‘foreign agent’

Sever.Realii, a news project created by Radio Liberty, is placed on the list as ‘foreign agent’ by the Justice Ministry one day after State Duma deputies pinpointed the news-site as interfering in Russia’s internal affairs.
November 19, 2019

First of three furnaces in Nikel is now shutting down

With the closure comes a 33% cut in emissions from the infamous factory in the Russian, Norwegian borderland.
November 18, 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