Thomas Nilsen

Russia announces multiple missiles towards Bear Gap as US Air Force bombers deploy to Norway for first time

Tension rises between NATO and Russia up north with both sides showing off military hardware.
February 17, 2021

No complications, says Northern Fleet after vaccinated 10,000 servicemen

Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine was one of the first in the world to be approved with a roll out in full swing within the country's military units.
February 16, 2021

Tromsø will host a new Norwegian rescue helicopter base

The base, to be operated privately starting next year, will work in coordination with rescue helicopters in Svalbard.
February 12, 2021

Nornickel gears up for green race, closure of old copper smelter in Monchegorsk will halve air pollution

Some 700 employees will be affected as the metallurgical workshop closes this spring.
February 12, 2021

Kemi gets largest wood processing plant on northern hemisphere

Metsä Group says its new €1,6 billion bioproduct mill in Kemi will create around 1,500 new jobs across its entire direct value chain.
February 11, 2021

Russian bombers met by NATO fighter jets over the Barents Sea

A pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers showed muscles outside Norwegian air space and in the European Arctic on Tuesday. Newly deployed naval aviation fighter jets at Novaya Zemlya escorted the aircraft for part of the route.
February 09, 2021

Not all unsanctioned rallies are met with police crackdown

No black helmets, no batons, no OMON uniforms. Not one single police insight as about 100 people took part in an unsanctioned rally in the center of Arkhangelsk this weekend. The organizer is unknown, but a video of the event posted on social media is concluded with the words "Pomorie For Putin."
February 08, 2021

Norway intelligence warns about new nuclear weapons technology developed by Russia

Technology runs ahead of international arms treaties and several of the new systems are tested and will be deployed near Norwegian territory in the north.
February 08, 2021

U.S. Air Force to refuel Finnish fighter jets up north

Lapland Air Force this week organizes the an air refueling exercise with U.S. tanker aircraft.
February 08, 2021

Russia and the U.S. extend nuclear arms treaty

No room for another unconstrained nuclear arms race as President Putin and President Biden in a last-minute call agreed to extend the New Start Treaty until February 5, 2026.
February 04, 2021

Pages

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