Thomas Nilsen

Detained for throwing stones on Russia

Don’t throw the first stone. Norwegian military border guards and police acted properly.
August 15, 2016

Good grouse hunting season

More than half of all grouse shot in Norway last season were hunted in the two northernmost counties; Troms and Finnmark.
August 11, 2016

Navy will hide entire Severomorsk in giant fake fog screen

Civilians asked to stay calm for the next three days. Despite “specific smell” – the smoke is harmless to people, Defence officials assure.
August 10, 2016

“Russia and Norway have a common interest in ensuring responsible aquaculture development”

Norway’s Minister of Fisheries Per Sandberg calls on more cooperation in border areas after a scandalous video shows how tons of dead and half-dead salmon were dumped on the coast of the Barents Sea.
August 10, 2016

No breaks on Russia’s warship program, but experts question timeframes and social consequences

While the Russian Navy brags about its new class of nuclear-powered destroyers and other sophisticated surface vessels, Norwegian experts belive the massive construction program is built on fragile foundations.
August 09, 2016

Scientist: Yamal anthrax outbreak could just be the beginning

Anthrax is one of many infectious disease agents preserved in the record melting permafrost.
August 07, 2016

Dry well at Barents Sea wildcat

No new Arctic oil discovery for Eni and partners.
August 05, 2016

Nordavia may resume flights to Tromsø

The Arkhangelsk-based airliner mulls new planes and low-cost model.
August 05, 2016

Despite recent decline, border traffic twice as high as a few years back

August 03, 2016

Debate heats up over nuclear power in northern Finland

Someone painted «Putin» over the road sign to Pyhäjoki, the municipality in northern Finland where a partly Russian owned nuclear power plant will be built.
August 02, 2016

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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