Thomas Nilsen

COVID-19 infections are increasing in Northwest Russia

In the Murmansk region, only one out of eight citizens have taken the vaccine.
June 13, 2021

Teriberka gets Russia’s second Arctic research station powered by renewables

Snowflake-2 science research station will be a five-domes construction to house year-round environmental monitoring and education.
June 10, 2021

North Swedish battery gigafactory expands before production start

Northvolt raises another $2,75bn for ramp-up of its battery production from 40 to 60 GWh annual capacity.
June 10, 2021

Norway offers oil firms 70 new Barents Sea exploration blocks

"Are there any adults home?" Greenpeace asks rhetorically after the Norwegian Government on Wednesday announced this year's licensing round.
June 09, 2021

20 warships sail out for new Barents Sea exercise

Coastal flotilla, submarines, and aircraft will over the coming days conduct a tactical exercise to protect Russia’s Arctic borders.
June 08, 2021

First real green spring comes to Nikel

"We, ordinary people living in Nikel, are very happy. The air is fresh, leaves are green," says Tatiana Bazanova who has lived most of her adult life in what used to be one of Europe's most polluted towns.
June 08, 2021

Norway & Russia update agreement to avoid dangerous aircraft, warship encounters

Increased military activities up north by both nations make it important to have good mechanisms to ensure that episodes do not create misunderstandings or unpredictable escalations.
June 07, 2021

A nuclear ghost from Murmansk’s Soviet past is finally emptied

27 years of international cooperation ends successfully as the last batch of damaged uranium fuel rods is lifted out of the infamous Lepse shipwreck at a yard in northern Russia.
June 07, 2021

12th Directorate beefs up support facilities at nuclear test site

Russian Defence Ministry’s 12th Directorate talks public about ongoing subcritical experiments with nuclear warheads material at Novaya Zemlya.
June 07, 2021

NATO ships with missile defence drill off northern Norway

Never before has such a large group of NATO warships exercised missile defence so far north.
June 02, 2021

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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