Lars Ragnar Aalerud Hansen
Lars Ragnar Aalerud Hansen is Norway’s Ambassador to Ukraine since September 2025. Before his appointment as Ambassador, he served as Director of the Section for Eastern Europe at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2020. In this capacity, he oversaw Norway’s policy towards the region and the response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, including the development of the Nansen support program, Norway’s biggest ever bilateral support program.
Lars started his career as a soldier and later officer in the Norwegian Army. He then served four years in the office of the Defence Attaché at the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow, Russia before joining the Foreign Service as First Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan. He was later seconded as Personal Advisor to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities located in The Hague, the Netherlands. In Oslo, he served with the Section for Eastern Europe from 2014, first as desk officer for Ukraine and later at the Russia desk.
Lars completed his officer training at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence and Security School where he studied Russian language and graduated with a BA in Russian studies from the University of Oslo. He earned an MSc in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MA in International Relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar.
An outdoors enthusiast, Lars has skied across the Greenland ice cap from coast to coast, paddled Canada’s Yukon River and summitted high mountains in Russia, Ethiopia, Iran and Georgia. He most enjoys hiking, skiing and hunting in the hills and mountains of his native region in Norway.
His British born partner Katherine (Kate) Bragg is CEO of ElBits, a Norwegian tech company working to improve digitalization in the power grid sector.