Thomas Nilsen

World’s first fossil-free steelmaking starts in northern Sweden

The unique pilot plant in Luleå is a first step in decarbonizing the steel industry, which today counts for 7% of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
September 01, 2020

Man killed by polar bear near Longyearbyen airport

The polar bear attacked the man at the campsite just next to the airport in Longyearbyen.
August 28, 2020

American spy-plane circles Russian Northern Fleet's exercise waters

Tensions are high around Scandinavia, so also in the north: The U.S. Air Force RC-135 Combat Sent is Wednesday morning on mission over the Barents Sea outside Russia's strategically most important navy bases for nuclear-powered submarines.
August 26, 2020

U.S. Navy's most advanced attack submarine surfaced outside Tromsø

The USS Seawolf conducted a brief stop in the fjord near Tromsø on August 21 for personnel change before sailing out to waters inside the Arctic Circle.
August 25, 2020

Norwegian fighters fly alongside six B-52 bombers

The U.S. long-range nuclear-capable bombers were met by F-16s from Bodø air base in northern Norway after a flight path across the Arctic.
August 25, 2020

Murmansk region population down by 56,500 last ten year

The Murmansk region now has a population of 738,900 people, down 2,500 since January 1 and down massively 56,500 in the course of the last ten years.
August 24, 2020

Rosatom releases previously classified documentary video of Tsar Bomba nuke test

Photos and short video clips have previously been available, but this unseen 40 minutes declassified footage of the Soviet Union’s monster nuclear bomb give a whole new insight into what happened on Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961.
August 22, 2020

With melting glaciers appears new islands, this year at Novaya Zemlya

While low-laying islands in the Pacific Ocean disappear under rising seas, geographers have to redraw Arctic maps as land previously hidden underneath ice-covered waters pops up.
August 21, 2020

Violetta detained in Murmansk for single-person picket in support of Navalny

Violetta Grudina was standing peacefully alone on the Five Corner square downtown Murmansk, holding a placard asking for the crime against Alexey Navalny to be thoroughly investigated.
August 20, 2020

Regional airline Widerøe cuts flights in northern Norway

Routes from Tromsø to Kirkenes, Vadsø and Skagen will be reduced by October 1 as the demand for air travel has dropped dramatically amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
August 20, 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