Confidential
Noform
Chief, First Far Eastern Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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(1969)
Since 1970 Mikhall Kaptisa (pro-nounced KAHpitsah) has been chief of the First Far Eastern Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Ministry's policy-making Collegium. A senior Soviet expert on China, he has specialized in Asian affairs during his more than 20-year diplomatic career. He previously direccted the Foreign Ministry's South east Asian Department (1966-70), and during 1960-61 he was Ambassador to Pakistan. Kapitsa is currently responsible for Chine, Korea and Mongolia. In his role as a Collegium member, he coordinates general policy questions handled by other three Asian departments in Foreign Ministry.
Professional Diplomat and Scholar
More articulate then most Soviet officials, with a free-wheeling personal style, Kapitsa often gives the impression that he is expressing something more than the official stand on issues. He is a physically imposing man - almost 2 meters tall - with an authoritative and sometimes explosive manner. Extremely self-confident, he is often expansive and sometimes explosive discussions with US officials, as he presents his views regarding China and Chinese matters. Kapitsa is one of the Soviet Union's most voluble Asian experts, outspoken and over dramatic. But worth listening to, according to foreign officials.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Kapitsa has combined and academic career with his diplomatic work: In 1961 he became a professor at the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Problems of the Far East, and has been a prolific author of books and articles on China. Kapitsa often writes under pseudonyms, one of which is "M. Ukraintsev." In 1968 he wrote To the left of Common Sense. in which he surveyed the development of the Maoist line since 1949. In that publication he described the increasingly anti-soviet posture of the Chinese leadership and asserted that China was the soviet Union's main problem. In 1969 Kapitsa published a bitter attack on China entitled PRC: Two Decades, Two Polices. Kapitsa has been nominated several times for corresponding membership in the USSR Academy of Sciences but has not been elected.
