Thomas Nilsen
@thomasnilsen.bsky.social
Editor of the Barents Observer.
Freedom to write - Freedom to publish!
#Arctic #Environment #Security #Russia #Nuclear #FSB #OSINT #InfoOps
Freedom to write - Freedom to publish!
#Arctic #Environment #Security #Russia #Nuclear #FSB #OSINT #InfoOps
🇳🇴 has some strange rules for allied flights. 🇺🇸 P-8s with take-off from Evenes (northern Norway) can track 🇷🇺 subs in Norwegian Sea, but not in international waters north of the Varanger fjord. So, this 🇺🇸 ✈️ tonight comes all the way from 🇮🇸 Keflavik.
November 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
🇳🇴 has some strange rules for allied flights. 🇺🇸 P-8s with take-off from Evenes (northern Norway) can track 🇷🇺 subs in Norwegian Sea, but not in international waters north of the Varanger fjord. So, this 🇺🇸 ✈️ tonight comes all the way from 🇮🇸 Keflavik.
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
He turned 18, signed a contract, and was dead a month later. Our analysis finds hundreds of teenage recruits among Russia’s war dead, a rise fuelled by relaxing laws and allowing criminal suspects to sign contracts from detention.
Read the full update: en.zona.media/article/2025...
Read the full update: en.zona.media/article/2025...
November 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
He turned 18, signed a contract, and was dead a month later. Our analysis finds hundreds of teenage recruits among Russia’s war dead, a rise fuelled by relaxing laws and allowing criminal suspects to sign contracts from detention.
Read the full update: en.zona.media/article/2025...
Read the full update: en.zona.media/article/2025...
Nations remain far from meeting the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to well-below 2°C, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report 2025. Meanwhile, winter is coming here up North.
www.unep.org/resources/em... #ClimateCrisis
www.unep.org/resources/em... #ClimateCrisis
November 7, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Nations remain far from meeting the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to well-below 2°C, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report 2025. Meanwhile, winter is coming here up North.
www.unep.org/resources/em... #ClimateCrisis
www.unep.org/resources/em... #ClimateCrisis
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
🇷🇺 Consulate General in Kirkenes 🇳🇴 continues to recruit employees from the FSB Border Guard Service. Read about how the Barents Observer discovered Denis Kurilov's covert background.
Meet Denis Kurilov, second person with an FSB background at Russia's Consulate General in Kirkenes
In Kirkenes, the Russian consulate increasingly resembles a branch of the FSB border service: staff without diplomatic status live in the consulate building and appear at official meetings and public ...
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:52 AM
🇷🇺 Consulate General in Kirkenes 🇳🇴 continues to recruit employees from the FSB Border Guard Service. Read about how the Barents Observer discovered Denis Kurilov's covert background.
Quite a crazy thing to read the transcript from today’s Security Council meeting in the Kremlin. ☢️⚛️🇷🇺
Belousov: 'Appropriate to begin immediate preparations for full-scale nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya'
The Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov made it clear that the test site on the Arctic archipelago can be ready at short notice.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Quite a crazy thing to read the transcript from today’s Security Council meeting in the Kremlin. ☢️⚛️🇷🇺
The Barents Observer has found one more employee with Russia's Consulate General in Kirkenes coming from the FSB.
Meet Denis Kurilov, second person with an FSB background at Russia's Consulate General in Kirkenes
In Kirkenes, the Russian consulate increasingly resembles a branch of the FSB border service: staff without diplomatic status live in the consulate building and appear at official meetings and public ...
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The Barents Observer has found one more employee with Russia's Consulate General in Kirkenes coming from the FSB.
A grim example of how 🇷🇺 deliberately blurs out the distance between WWII and today's bestial war. Unveiled in Severomorsk on Tuesday, the monument to warriors fighting in 🇺🇦 partly include WWII uniforms, a Soviet flag and looks similar to those commemorating the Red Army's victory and sacrifice.
November 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
A grim example of how 🇷🇺 deliberately blurs out the distance between WWII and today's bestial war. Unveiled in Severomorsk on Tuesday, the monument to warriors fighting in 🇺🇦 partly include WWII uniforms, a Soviet flag and looks similar to those commemorating the Red Army's victory and sacrifice.
In my latest opinion piece for the @thebarentsobserver.com, I ask why we believe that a country not capable of producing a decent microchip on its own can make nuclear-powered weapons systems without triggering major accidents.
The Arctic has again become Moscow’s nuclear bluster playground
History is repeating itself.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:39 PM
In my latest opinion piece for the @thebarentsobserver.com, I ask why we believe that a country not capable of producing a decent microchip on its own can make nuclear-powered weapons systems without triggering major accidents.
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
New article out in @ejisbisa.bsky.social ! In 2015–16, Russia’s FSB tested migration as a strategic tool in the High North, using state-orchestrated mobility to pressure neighbours, exploit humanitarian norms, and project influence short of war. Read the full article 👇
#OpenAccess
#hybridwarfare
#OpenAccess
#hybridwarfare
#OpenAccess from @ejisbisa.bsky.social -
Implementing a new tool: Russia’s strategic use of migrants towards Norway and Finland 2015/16 - https://cup.org/3WDCbAT
- @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
#FirstView
Implementing a new tool: Russia’s strategic use of migrants towards Norway and Finland 2015/16 - https://cup.org/3WDCbAT
- @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
#FirstView
November 3, 2025 at 11:46 AM
New article out in @ejisbisa.bsky.social ! In 2015–16, Russia’s FSB tested migration as a strategic tool in the High North, using state-orchestrated mobility to pressure neighbours, exploit humanitarian norms, and project influence short of war. Read the full article 👇
#OpenAccess
#hybridwarfare
#OpenAccess
#hybridwarfare
Today's most important read:
"The 2015/16 migration crisis (on 🇷🇺 border with 🇳🇴 🇫🇮) can best be explained as strategic engineered migration and a pilot project of the Russian security services."
By @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
"The 2015/16 migration crisis (on 🇷🇺 border with 🇳🇴 🇫🇮) can best be explained as strategic engineered migration and a pilot project of the Russian security services."
By @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
Implementing a new tool: Russia’s strategic use of migrants towards Norway and Finland 2015/16 | European Journal of International Security | Cambridge Core
Implementing a new tool: Russia’s strategic use of migrants towards Norway and Finland 2015/16
www.cambridge.org
November 3, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Today's most important read:
"The 2015/16 migration crisis (on 🇷🇺 border with 🇳🇴 🇫🇮) can best be explained as strategic engineered migration and a pilot project of the Russian security services."
By @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
"The 2015/16 migration crisis (on 🇷🇺 border with 🇳🇴 🇫🇮) can best be explained as strategic engineered migration and a pilot project of the Russian security services."
By @kaeggen.bsky.social & Jyri Lavikainen
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
OPINION: For Vladimir Putin and his ex-KGB cohort, threatening with the new reactor-powered, nuclear-capable weapons systems brings Soviet nostalgia back onto the table. A look into history can help elucidating today's escalating Russian nuclear brinksmanship.
The Arctic has again become Moscow’s nuclear bluster playground
History is repeating itself.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
OPINION: For Vladimir Putin and his ex-KGB cohort, threatening with the new reactor-powered, nuclear-capable weapons systems brings Soviet nostalgia back onto the table. A look into history can help elucidating today's escalating Russian nuclear brinksmanship.
Here comes Khabarovsk, Russia's first serial submarine to carry nuclear-powered giga-torpedoes. #Poseidon ⚛️☢️🤿
Here comes Russia's first serial submarine to carry nuclear-powered giga-torpedoes
The Khabarovsk was launched from the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on Saturday.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Here comes Khabarovsk, Russia's first serial submarine to carry nuclear-powered giga-torpedoes. #Poseidon ⚛️☢️🤿
The Kola Peninsula takes a core role in overloading Ukraine’s air defence. 30 Kh-101 cruise missiles last night, only 21 were shut down.
Seven bombers from Olenya targeted Ukraine in mass missile strike
Three people are reported killed, including a seven-year-old girl after Russia launched 702 missiles and drones overnight from Wednesday to Thursday all across Ukraine. Residential buildings, energy s...
www.thebarentsobserver.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The Kola Peninsula takes a core role in overloading Ukraine’s air defence. 30 Kh-101 cruise missiles last night, only 21 were shut down.
🇷🇺 Generalkonsulat i Kirkenes må stenges, argumenterer jeg og @jettefc.bsky.social i #Dax18. 48:00 ut i sendingen. Spennende at @eivindvp.bsky.social mot slutten av debatten ikke utelukker at 🇷🇺 må pakke ned og stenge. Konsulatet er en svingdør for FSB til 🇧🇻 og driver med provokasjon, ikke diplomati.
October 29, 2025 at 7:08 PM
🇷🇺 Generalkonsulat i Kirkenes må stenges, argumenterer jeg og @jettefc.bsky.social i #Dax18. 48:00 ut i sendingen. Spennende at @eivindvp.bsky.social mot slutten av debatten ikke utelukker at 🇷🇺 må pakke ned og stenge. Konsulatet er en svingdør for FSB til 🇧🇻 og driver med provokasjon, ikke diplomati.
"... any potential live fire test likely will come at a time when the potential deterrent effects are needed the most," researcher @inahpkvam.bsky.social told the Barents Observer in 2023. On Tuesday, Russia tested the terrifying ⚛️☢️ weapon from a submarine in northern waters.
Russia claims successful test of Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone
The drone was launched from a submarine on Tuesday October 28, Vladimir Putin said. The test has a huge psychological effect in a time when Moscow more than ever needs to flex deterrence.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
"... any potential live fire test likely will come at a time when the potential deterrent effects are needed the most," researcher @inahpkvam.bsky.social told the Barents Observer in 2023. On Tuesday, Russia tested the terrifying ⚛️☢️ weapon from a submarine in northern waters.
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
🇳🇴🇪🇺 Norway has implemented the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia. New measures hit the shadow fleet, banks, energy and aim to stop evasion while further weakening the military-industrial machine. The package entered into force in Norway yesterday. #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦
October 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM
🇳🇴🇪🇺 Norway has implemented the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia. New measures hit the shadow fleet, banks, energy and aim to stop evasion while further weakening the military-industrial machine. The package entered into force in Norway yesterday. #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦
Dagens viktigste tekst er signert @jettefc.bsky.social
"Når man forhandler med et annet land om hvilke blomster som skal legges ned hvor på norsk jord, reduserer det vårt handlingsrom som stat.’’
"Når man forhandler med et annet land om hvilke blomster som skal legges ned hvor på norsk jord, reduserer det vårt handlingsrom som stat.’’
Propagandakontoret i Kirkenes – et hus fullt av Putins ansatte - Altinget
Hvis grensen bør gå ett sted for hva Norge skal akseptere av russisk provokasjon, forsøk på destabilisering og sosial kontroll over innbyggere i landet vårt, bør det være ved grensen i nord. Nærmere b...
www.altinget.no
October 28, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Dagens viktigste tekst er signert @jettefc.bsky.social
"Når man forhandler med et annet land om hvilke blomster som skal legges ned hvor på norsk jord, reduserer det vårt handlingsrom som stat.’’
"Når man forhandler med et annet land om hvilke blomster som skal legges ned hvor på norsk jord, reduserer det vårt handlingsrom som stat.’’
Putin and Gerasimov claim that a 15 hours flight with the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile took place on Tuesday, October 21. ☢️ ⚛️ 🚀 🇷🇺
No radiation measured in Norway after Putin's Burevestnik missile allegedly flew 14,000 km
The Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Vladimir Putin on Sunday that a successful test of the Burevestnik missile was carried out on October 21, with the missile flying 14,000 km and s...
www.thebarentsobserver.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Putin and Gerasimov claim that a 15 hours flight with the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile took place on Tuesday, October 21. ☢️ ⚛️ 🚀 🇷🇺
Moscow’s man in 🇳🇴 Kirkenes met with 🇺🇦 flag when laying wreath at war monument. October 25 marks 81st anniversary of liberation in Norway’s northeast border region.
October 25, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Moscow’s man in 🇳🇴 Kirkenes met with 🇺🇦 flag when laying wreath at war monument. October 25 marks 81st anniversary of liberation in Norway’s northeast border region.
☢️ This day in history, October 24th 1990: the USSR detonated its last underground nuclear bomb at Novaya Zemlya. My photo from 35 years ago, taken towards the Matochkin Strait from the Barents Sea, just outside 12 nm. ⚛️
October 24, 2025 at 7:01 AM
☢️ This day in history, October 24th 1990: the USSR detonated its last underground nuclear bomb at Novaya Zemlya. My photo from 35 years ago, taken towards the Matochkin Strait from the Barents Sea, just outside 12 nm. ⚛️
I mer enn ti år har Kongsberg Gruppens kunde videresolgt avansert undervannsteknologi fra Norge og Vesten til Russland. Teknologien benyttes til militære installasjoner langs sjøbunnen i Barentshavet.
Norsk teknologi kan ha bidratt til å beskytte Putins atomvåpen
Hvordan kunne det norske utstyret fra Kongsberg Gruppen ende opp her?
www.nrk.no
October 23, 2025 at 5:57 AM
I mer enn ti år har Kongsberg Gruppens kunde videresolgt avansert undervannsteknologi fra Norge og Vesten til Russland. Teknologien benyttes til militære installasjoner langs sjøbunnen i Barentshavet.
Reposted by Thomas Nilsen
NOW: Russia on October 22 tested all three legs of its nuclear triad as part of the annual Grom (Thunder) strategic nuclear drills. An upgraded submarine from the 1980s played a key role
Centrepiece of Grom strategic nuclear exercise was a 40-year-old sub
Russia on October 22 tested all three legs of its nuclear triad as part of the annual Grom (Thunder) strategic nuclear drills. An upgraded submarine from the 1980s played a key role.
www.thebarentsobserver.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:45 PM
NOW: Russia on October 22 tested all three legs of its nuclear triad as part of the annual Grom (Thunder) strategic nuclear drills. An upgraded submarine from the 1980s played a key role
Russian evolution: UAZ-450 (1955) vs. UAZ-452 (2025).
www.uaz.ru/en/cars/clas...
www.uaz.ru/en/cars/clas...
October 20, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Russian evolution: UAZ-450 (1955) vs. UAZ-452 (2025).
www.uaz.ru/en/cars/clas...
www.uaz.ru/en/cars/clas...
Liar Bortnikov hopes he can have Putin believe that 🇬🇧 intelligence orchestrated the 🇺🇦 SBU operation “Spider Web" - the drone swarm attack that took out four Tu-95MS strategic bombers at Olenya air base. FSB's director fears Putin might suspect him of being incompetent: Window could be next .
ФСБ: британские спецслужбы причастны к атаке военного аэродрома в Мурманской области - Новости Мурманска и области - ГТРК «Мурман»
ФСБ: британские спецслужбы причастны к атаке военного аэродрома в Мурманской области
murman.tv
October 16, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Liar Bortnikov hopes he can have Putin believe that 🇬🇧 intelligence orchestrated the 🇺🇦 SBU operation “Spider Web" - the drone swarm attack that took out four Tu-95MS strategic bombers at Olenya air base. FSB's director fears Putin might suspect him of being incompetent: Window could be next .