Thomas Nilsen

Russia’s remotest Arctic tundra city gets fiber-optic internet

One of the world’s richest man, Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, pressed the symbolic button opening the fiber-optic line to one of Russia’s remotest corners.
September 28, 2017

Staying in touch with your Russian friends via Facebook? Well, that might soon come to an end

Russia says it will block access to the social media network unless Facebook agrees to store the users’ personal data on servers in Russia.
September 27, 2017

ENI drills dry in Barents Sea

Wildcat drilling with hope to find more oil near the Goliat field failed.
September 27, 2017

Pride Parade participants stopped by FSB on return to Russia

«We know everything about you,» the interrogators told, but continued to ask about who organized and financed the pride parade that took place in Norway’s border town of Kirkenes this weekend.
September 25, 2017

Russians cross border to Norway for Pride Parade

“Love has no borders” was the slogan when 200 people turned out for Pride Parade in Norway’s border town to Russia.
September 23, 2017

Nuclear icebreaker «Sibir» floated out

Baltic shipyard in St. Petersburg on Friday floated out the second of the new generation powerful icebreakers aimed for the Northern Sea Route.
September 22, 2017

Norwegian frigate on voyage to Svalbard waters

«KNM Helge Ingstad» sails to Longyearbyen to show presence and ensure Norway’s sovereignty of the Arctic archipelago.
September 20, 2017

Sweden house prices grow at most in north

Prices are more up in Umeå and Luleå than in Stockholm.
September 20, 2017

Cruise missiles crisscross the Barents Sea

Russia’s war games in the north continues with cruise missiles flying up to 400 kilometers.
September 20, 2017

Three Afghans arrested on border to Norway

FSB Border Guards caught the migrants in the terrain before they managed to cross the border.
September 19, 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