title: Aleksandr Kapto
text: # Aleksandr Kapto
  
  Aleksandr Semyonovich Kapto (Russian: Александр Семёнович Капто; April 14, 1933 – April 19, 2020) was a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian sociologist, political scientist, diplomat, journalist and politician. He earned a philosophy degree in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1985. In 2008 he was head of the UNESCO International Board of the Institute of Socio-Political Research under the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
  
  ## Education
  
  Kapto graduated from the History and Philosophy Faculty of the Dnipropetrovsk University in 1957 with a philosophy degree and specialization in "Ukrainian Philology", studying the problems of war and peace, international relations, political sociology, sociology of morality and education, social activity of youths, and professional ethics.
  
  ## Career
  
  In addition to his duties with UNESCO, Kapto served as Chairman of the Expert Council under the Top Certifying Commission for Political Science; Chairman of the Council for Defending a Doctoral Thesis under the Institute of Socio-Political Research (ISPR RAS) (sociology of spiritual life and management); Vice-President of the Academy of Social Sciences; and was a member of the Presidium of the Academy of Political Science. He was a Soviet Ambassador to Cuba from 1985-9, and the last Soviet and first Russian Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
  
  ## Writing career
  
  Kapto was a member of the Union of Russian Writers. In 1971 and 1974 he received a first-degree diploma certificate for winning the All-Union Competition for the best popular science works.
  
  ## Awards and prizes
  
  * Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
  * Order of Friendship of Peoples
  * Order of Honour (2003)
  * Cuban Order of Solidarity
  * S. Vavilov Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Spreading Scientific Knowledge, Enlightened and Humanitarian Activities
  * Honorary Citizen of Denver
  