Thomas Nilsen

Norwegians consider establishing shipyard in Murmansk region

«There is a need for a civilian shipyard in the Murmansk area,» says Director of Kimek, the yard in Kirkenes with Russian shipowners as main customers.
August 17, 2018

With electric bikes, military border guards can patrol with silence

The Norwegian soldiers guarding the border to Russia is the world’s first military unit to use electric all terrain bikes.
August 17, 2018

Arctic Race of Norway kicks off in borderland

The 190-kilometer opening stage around the Varanger fjord took place close to Norway’s northern borders with Finland and Russia.
August 16, 2018

Ruble slides to 2-years low vs krone, cross-border shopping down

One Norwegian krone was traded at 8,1 rubles Tuesday morning. Cross-border traffic between Murmansk and Kirkenes is now at its lowest since 2012.
August 14, 2018

Swedish climate study icebreaker reaches North Pole

Science expedition sails north to find link between formation of Arctic clouds and record heatwave and drought on mainland Sweden.
August 14, 2018

Severodvinsk got rid of ship causing nuclear headache

The oldest of the Soviet navy’s barges for storing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste has safely arrived for long-term storage at the Saida Bay facility on the Kola Peninsula.
August 11, 2018

18 years after Kursk disaster, a sister ship show off sailing all along Norway in surface position

Norwegian radiation watchdog says its round-the-clock alert-readiness is prepared to act in case of accident.
August 09, 2018

With warming Arctic, Russian navy gets larger areas to patrol

Eight Northern Fleet vessels sail out from the Kola Peninsula heading northeast on a long-distance Arctic voyage.
August 09, 2018

With a nuclear submarine in centre, Northern Fleet flotilla sails home

After parading at Navy Day in St. Petersburg, four warships are this weekend sailing into Scandinavian waters.
August 04, 2018

“I could never believe it was this bad”

Norwegian Coast Guard crew shocked by the amount of plastic waste along the shore at a remote Svalbard island.
August 02, 2018

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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