Thomas Nilsen

Spike in COVID-19 cases among US Marines arriving in northern Norway

3,000 NATO soldiers will participate in this winter’s Joint Viking exercise at Setermoen north of the Arctic Circle, among them more than 1,000 U.S. Marines.
January 10, 2021

Aircraft carrier ice model on display in Kirovsk snow village

The "Admiral Kuznetsov" carrier is a main attraction in the labyrinth made of snow outside Kirovsk on the Kola Peninsula.
January 08, 2021

Lapland sees a population decline that will continue for years to come

Finland’s northernmost region lost almost 500 inhabitants in the ten months period from January to November 2020.
January 07, 2021

Russia’s oil and gas production sharply down in 2020, but here comes a new Arctic offshore platform

Hundreds of workers at yards in Severodvinsk are engaged day and night with construction of Russia’s second ice-resistant platform for Arctic waters.
January 05, 2021

Barents Region’s coronavirus death toll crosses 2000

While waiting for the vaccine to come to the rescue, new lockdowns are imposed after Christmas and New Year season travels.
January 05, 2021

Norway makes testing mandatory at entry, closes many border roads

With fears over mutant covid strain, the government has decided that anyone who arrives in Norway have to take a test.
December 31, 2020

Murmansk mourns fishermen lost in bitterly cold Barents Sea

The search for the missing crew from the sunken fishing vessels Onega continues, but hope has faded away to find any alive.
December 29, 2020

Icing believed to cause sinking of fishing boat in Barents Sea, 17 missing

The Russian fishing boat «Onega» sank near Novaya Zemlya. Two of the crew of 19 have been rescued, news agencies report citing the emergency ministry.
December 28, 2020

Potanin: "This is a historic event for Nornickel"

The polluting smelter in Nikel was shut down forever on December 23.
December 23, 2020

Supreme Court rules in favor of Norway's Arctic oil drilling

Drilling for more oil can continue in the Barents Sea as Norway's top court rejected the lawsuit filed by four environmental organizations.
December 22, 2020

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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