Thomas Nilsen

Scientists advise slashing Barents Sea cod, haddock quotas

Norwegian and Russian marine researchers for the third year in a row recommend reducing the catch of Northeast Arctic cod.
June 15, 2018

World Cup puts break on nuclear transport

A load of containers with spent nuclear fuel from Andreeva Bay on the Kola Peninsula will have to wait because of a general ban on transport of dangerous goods in Russia during the Football World Cup.
June 14, 2018

Alarm-drill: 36 Russian warships sail out to Barents Sea

Russian navy kicks off largest naval maneuver in 10 years in a surprise exercise aimed to counter a massive enemy attack.
June 13, 2018

Nordic fighter jets to train combat in skies above Lapland

Last week of June will be noisy along Europe’s eastern border to Russia with exercises both in Finland and in the Baltic.
June 13, 2018

Quark Expeditions orders cruise ship with two helipads for Arctic sailings

To be delivered in late 2020, the 200 passengers luxuriously ship will be built to Polar Class 6 standards.
June 13, 2018

Norway invites hundreds of U.S. Marines to the north

Up to 700 U.S. Marines are welcome for training on rotation at Værnes Air Station in the south and at Setermoen military camp in Troms, Northern Norway.
June 12, 2018

This Russian submarine dived to 500 meters in Norwegian Sea

Northern Fleet trains rescue diving northwest of Hammerfest.
June 10, 2018

Cold War airbase will be developed to high-end residential neighborhood

Luostari was once the Soviet Union’s nearest airfield to NATO territory. Now, the nearby ghost town of Korzunova could be one of the most lucrative private housing areas on the industrialized Kola Peninsula.
June 10, 2018

European Commission proposes priority to Narvik railway

The Norwegian ice-free port is suggested a key position in EU’s Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor railway network.
June 07, 2018

Sanctioned oil and banking good business for Norway

The value of the Norwegian Oil Fund’s investment in Sberbank increased by more than a billion kroner last year.
June 06, 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