Kristian Åtland

Kristian Åtland holds an MA degree in Russian cultural studies from the University of Oslo and a PhD in political science from the University of Tromsø.
 
In the period from 1994 to 2002, he was employed in the Norwegian Foreign Service and served as desk officer in the Foreign Ministry’s Russia and CIS division, as Second Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Kiev, and as Consul at the Norwegian Consulate General in San Francisco.
 
Since 2002, he has worked as a research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). He has published a number of articles, research reports, and book chapters on various Russia-related topics. Many of his recent publications focus on security issues in the High North/Arctic.
 
In the academic year 2019–2020, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), University of California, Berkeley, where he worked on a project related to the Donbas conflict in the Eastern Ukraine.

Research areas

• Russian security and defense policy
• Security issues in the High North/Arctic
• Security implications of climate change
• Maritime security issues
• The Russian Navy