Thomas Nilsen

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

Hammerfest LNG plant pushes restart date to March 2022

Only days after the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said "serious breached of the regulations have been identified", operator Equinor announces that repair of the plant will last at least half a year longer than previously communicated.
April 26, 2021

Blinken set to meet Lavrov at Reykjavik Arctic Council ministerial, Eriksen Søreide yet to confirm attendance

Efforts to limit the consequences of climate crises will likely top the agenda as the eight Arctic nations, permanent participants and observers meet next month.
April 21, 2021

Work on Trans-Arctic fiber-optic cable starts this spring

Construction permit is granted for what will provide for high-tech digitalization of Russia’s entire Arctic coastline, from Murmansk to Vladivostok.
April 21, 2021

Russia with artillery shelling in Varanger fjord near Norway's Grense Jakobselv

At the nearest, the area announced for artillery shooting is only 3 to 4 nautical miles from Norway’s territorial waters.
April 20, 2021

Northern Sweden reports high spike in COVID-19

182 new cases reported on Tuesday in Norrbotten county where 54 patients are currently getting treatment for the virus in hospitals.
April 20, 2021

Northern Fleet kicks off major exercise

NATO aircraft are in the skies over the Barents Sea watching as nuclear- and diesel submarines, surface warships, support vessels on Monday sailed out from the Kola Peninsula.
April 20, 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