Thomas Nilsen

Tromsø makes ready for port call by U.S. Navy nuclear sub

No-fly zone activated for May 10 to 12 over the dedicated harbor where a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine will make port call.
May 07, 2021

German warship tests missiles outside northern Norway

A huge area in the Norwegian Sea, in size as large as Russia's Kola Peninsula, is closed off and marked with "live firing" for the two-days period May 7 to 9.
May 07, 2021

All Arctic foreign ministers will meet in Reykjavik

At its 25th anniversary, the ministerial meeting on May 20 will seek to outline a strategy for the Arctic Council in times of dramatic climate changes.
May 07, 2021

Indigenous and minority language names for Norway now have official status

The Parliament has approved a bill naming the country by its three Sámi and the Kven languages in addition to the Norwegian name Norge. Cross-border roads in the north will get new signs.
May 06, 2021

Northern Fleet gets first Yasen-M class submarine

Kazan is the first of eight modern nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines to be delivered from the shipyard in Severodvinsk.
May 06, 2021

Zakharova erupts in fury over Norway’s military deal with the United States

Oslo follows a deliberate and destructive line towards aggravating tensions in the Euro-Arctic region, and destroying Russian-Norwegian relations, the spokeswomen for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in her weekly press briefing.
April 30, 2021

Nuclear power plant construction in north Finland faces delay, increased costs and geopolitical uncertainties

Costs for the partly Russian-owned controversial plant will be €1 billion more than previously estimated.
April 29, 2021

Amid pandemic, Murmansk gets new flights throughout Russia

This week, new direct flights take off from Murmansk to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod.
April 28, 2021

Northern Fleet starts removing oldest ballistic missile subs

The 36 years old "Ekaterinburg" is first to be sent to scrap.
April 28, 2021

New batch of satellites brings broadband to the Arctic

36 satellites by British communication company OneWeb were successfully placed in orbit late Sunday evening by a Soyuz rocket from Russia's Vostochny cosmodrome.
April 26, 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