Check the Wiki for Olga Litivenko and decide on her impartiality.
He’s a very smart guy, and particularly track down his speeches at Rosneft. He understands the inevitability of Russian oil dominance. He understands the geology behind oil.
As for quoting a doctorate mentor/advisor, that’s pretty normal. There’s no there, there.
Fake degrees for dictators, it seems to be a thing.
Putin picks up a fake doctorate in something he had never been interested in and Xi gets his in whatever it is.