Thomas Nilsen

Winter seasons will see 35 direct international flights to Rovaniemi and Tromsø

Never before have Europeans had so many direct flights to the snowy wilderness during polar night as during the upcoming winter.
July 07, 2023

Finland tightens entry rules for Russian business travelers and property owners

From July 10, Russians traveling with business visas to Schengen-Europe will no longer be allowed to transit through Finland.
July 07, 2023

Moscow expels nine Finnish diplomates in retaliation move, closing St. Petersburg consulate

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on the Finnish Ambassador and delivered a “strong protest” against the “confrontational anti-Russia policy” pursued by Helsinki.
July 06, 2023

Regional airline Widerøe gets stronger after being bought by Norwegian Air

Northern Europe’s largest regional airliner serves an extensive route network connecting the smaller airports to larger hubs from where Norwegian Air flies.
July 06, 2023

Longyearbyen warmer than Paris

Hottest day ever recorded on Planet Earth was July 4. And no surprise, the Arctic feels the heat.
July 05, 2023

Russia kicks off strategic aviation exercise over the Barents Sea ahead of next week’s NATO Summit

A large area from the eastern Barents Sea to the Ural Mountains is now closed off for civilian aviation as the bombers will launch tactical missiles against on-ground training targets.
July 05, 2023

Border sees steep decline in traffic

Amid war, visa restrictions, banking sanctions and more expensive vehicle insurance, travel across Russia’s northernmost border with Schengen-Europe saw a 22 percent fall from May to June.
July 04, 2023

Oil company tried to cover up large Arctic oil spill

An estimated 1,000 tons of oil has leaked into nature after a pipe burst next to the Kolva River in the Usinsk district of the Komi Republic in northern Russia.
July 04, 2023

Supreme Court cancels Yakunin-case ruling, Russians not allowed to fly drones in Norway

"The flight ban for Russian nationals include drone flights," the Supreme Court says in its ruling on Friday. With the decision, the case will be sent back to the district court in Tromsø.
June 30, 2023

Old nuclear ship sails into Barents Sea with subsidized cargo for the Far East

For the fourth year in a row, Rosatom engages the world’s only remaining civilian reactor-powered cargo vessel for cargo transport from St. Petersburg to Petropavlovsk in Russia’s Far East via the Northern Sea Route.
June 30, 2023

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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