Thomas Nilsen

Jaeger battalion GSV gets weapons to destroy low-flying aircraft and drones

Specialized invasion defense soldiers on the border with Russia’s heavily militarised Kola Peninsula are the first in Norway to be armed with the Piorun man-portable air defense system.
February 06, 2024

Sevmash launches fifth Borei-A ballistic missile submarine

"The Knyaz Pozharsky embodies the most advanced technological solutions, experience and traditions of domestic submarine shipbuilding," Navy Commander Admiral Nikolai Evmenov said at the launching ceremony in Severodvinsk on Saturday.
February 04, 2024

Norway expands defense agreement with American troops

Andøya, Bardufoss and Setermoen in northern Norway are among the eight new dedicated areas where the United States military could be allowed to build infrastructure to strengthen defense cooperation with the Nordics.
February 02, 2024

Storskog sees no increase in crossings since Finland’s eastern border closure

Storskog has become the closest checkpoint for travelers between northern Finland and Russia, but January saw a further drop in crossings by 22 percent compared with December.
February 02, 2024

Foreign policy and security are existential questions, says presidential frontrunner

Voters in Finland head to the polls on Sunday in a presidential election important for the country’s foreign policy amid tensions with Russia.
January 28, 2024

FSB pushes border opening with Finland, 18 walkers crossed illegally on Thursday

Finnish border guard on Thursday arrested 18 people from the Middle East who walked the snow from Russia.
January 25, 2024

Russia's next nuclear icebreaker will be named “Leningrad”

Keel laying ceremony takes place at the Baltic Shipyard on January 26, the anniversary day of the end of the World War II siege of Leningrad.
January 22, 2024

Norwegian king crab export hits record thanks to Russia sanctions

Export value last year increased by 43% compared with 2022, data from the Norwegian Seafood Council shows.
January 19, 2024

2023 saw more Russian strategic bombers outside Norway

They are Moscow’s most busy cruise missile platforms in the war of aggression against Ukraine, but the Tu-95 and Tu-160 aircraft still found time to increase the number of flights outside Norwegian air space in 2023.
January 15, 2024

Crossings remained low in turbulent border year

Norwegian immigration police summarize traffic for 2023, 30% growth, but far below pre-COVID levels.
January 14, 2024

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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