Steinar Gil (born 27 January 1943) is a Norwegian philologist and diplomat.
He started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984, being promoted to assistant secretary in 1993.
He served at the embassy of Norway in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, before returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of the Eastern Europe department.
Azerbaijan had the chance to show that it was a normal country with democratic principles.
"[3]Following his criticism of the Aliyev government, Gil was inundated with smear attacks from state media in Azerbaijan.