Thomas Nilsen

Stalin bust remains at parking lot in Arkhangelsk

Local communists wanted to erect the monument in the city centre, but the Soviet dictator ended up in a backyard.
October 02, 2017

Hundreds gathered for Navalny rally in Arkhangelsk

Police tried to prevent the installation of the stage, and road construction work suddenly started on the route to the square.
October 02, 2017

Member of Parliament wants Russian road sign for borderland bridge

“The bridge sign should be bilingual in the great good spirit between our two countries,” says Jan-Henrik Fredriksen, representing Finnmark in the Norwegian Parliament over the last 12-years.
October 01, 2017

Dry well at Lundin’s Barents Sea drilling

Lundin Petroleum’s Norwegian subsidiary found no oil at the Børselv prospect.
September 30, 2017

Bridge and new highway linking Norway and Russia officially opens

“This is a bridge for mutual benefit for businesses in both Norway and Russia,” says Minister of Transport and Communication Ketil Solvik-Olsen.
September 29, 2017

Russian Minister and Governor skip Norway road opening ceremony

Both the Russian Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov and Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun have made a last minute cancellation.
September 29, 2017

Tromsø brewery signs deal to quench the thirst of Swedes

Mack, the world’s largest brewery within the Arctic Circle, will deliver half a million liters of beer to government-owned Systembolaget.
September 28, 2017

Murmansk and Arkhangelsk population continues to decline

September 28, 2017

Monchegorsk has now the world’s largest nickel refining facility

Kola GMK has boosted its nickel output by 50% after refining was moved from Norilsk in Siberia.
September 28, 2017

Radars on missile watch disturb TV signals in Norway’s north-easternmost town

For locals in Vardø, a football match on TV can have 44 players, if possible at all to watch the choppy images.
September 28, 2017

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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