“We should expect development and testing of new, advanced weapons systems in the areas east of Norway. Several of these will have nuclear propulsion systems,” said Director of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, Lt. Gen. Morten Haga Lunde.
Kremlin seeks to exploit any issue that can create split, said Lt. Gen. Morten Haga Lunde when presenting the Intelligence Service’s 2020 review of security threats to Norway.
“The tourists care about their green impact, so the business is obvious,” says Agnes Árnadóttir, co-founder of the Polar tour operator that sails towards an emission-free future.
Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) sees the announced missile shootings as a response to next month’s exercise Cold Response which takes place north of the Arctic Circle.
Two men in the closed naval town of Polyarny on Russia’s Kola Peninsula were found guilty of extremist activities, but the judge did not agree with the prosecutor who asked for 6- and 6,5-years jail sentence.
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.