Stefan Hedlund

Stefan Hedlund

Emeritus Professor of Russian and East European Studies, Uppsala University

Stefan Hedlund is Emeritus Professor of Russian and East European Studies at Uppsala University. He has written extensively on institutional development and attempted institutional reform in Russia, from Kyivan Rus up to the present, and has served as Research Director at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies (UCRS).

 Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, 22 February 2023. (Anton Novoderezhkin/Sputnik/Pool via Reuters)

What Russia's possible collapse could mean for China

Swedish academic Stefan Hedlund points out that China is weighing its options very carefully as to how much it should intervene to ensure a stalemate or renewed freezing of conflict in the Ukraine war. From China's point of view, while there are certain gains to Russia being further weakened, Russia's total fall would also spell trouble for China.