Harry Kazianis, an expert on U.S. foreign policy and national security issues involving China, told Express.co.uk that Putin will “have to become China’s colony” if he wants to survive after the war with Ukraine comes to an end. He said that sanctions imposed on the country by the West will cripple the Russian economy, meaning that Putin will be forced to sell Russia’s assets to Beijing.
The expert, who is an analyst at the US thinktank Centre for National Interest, compared the current situation to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He explained that China previously “bought as much as they could” from the wreckage of the Soviet Union, a “blueprint” which they “would love to follow” again.
Xi Jinping, who Mr Kazianis said is eager to get a “foothold in Russia”, could use Russia’s impending vulnerability to acquire Moscow’s weapons technology to bolster their own status on the military world stage.
This comes as the West has united to cripple the Russian economy, with broad packages of sanctions introduced in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, the expert said: “Even if [Putin] pulled all of his troops out of Ukraine today, the sanctions aren’t coming off – so for him, the dye is already cast.
“If he survives, he’s going to have to become China’s colony at this point.
“That’s the only way he’s going to get the financial support he needs to survive.
“And it’s not a sure thing that the Chinese are going to want to do that. It’s a really bad situation.
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“They bought as much as they could from what was left of the Soviet Union and now the US and its allies are facing a Chinese military that has taken all that best Soviet equipment and upgraded it.
“So they would love to follow that blueprint again.”
However, Mr Kazianis questioned whether or not China would be put off by the “reputational damage” that would come from partnering with Russia.
He said: “The question is whether or not China is okay with taking on that reputational damage – I think they’d be okay with it.
“They don’t seem to care what anybody else thinks, they probably don’t care what their own people think.
“It depends on how far this war goes.
“If Putin really starts flattening Kyiv and there are countless pictures of people dead in the streets for the next three months, China might rethink that.
“But it’s going to be very tempting for them to not want to go in there and buy the country in a buyers sale and that’s what they’ll do.”
This comes as more than 1,500 civilians have been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine, according to UN estimates.
Among those killed were 42 Ukrainian children.