Athens University to strip Putin of honorary doctorate
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) has started the procedure to revoke an honorary doctorate granted to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001, EKPA’a rectorate said in an announcement, adding it had informed the rectors of the European Civic University (CIVIS).
Academics and politicians had been calling on Greek universities that have issued honorary titles to the Russian president to revoke them in protest to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Putin was awarded a doctorate in economics in 2001, with the approval of the then Senate, and gave a speech about the challenges posted by international terrorism and extremism.
The Russian president was even given a second doctorate in February 22, 2018 from the Department of History, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management at the University of the Peloponnese “for all his work and for his contribution to Greek-Russian relations, literature, society, the arts and democracy.”
