China’s Stake in the Russian Duma Elections

What did observers in China think about the Russian State Duma election on September 20? While retaining a veneer of democratic procedure, Vladimir Putin has steadily eliminated potential rivals and term limits, much like Xi Jinping has done. In past Russian election cycles, Chinese officials and experts by large have emphasized the importance of outcomes reinforcing political stability in Russia. 

In terms of the latest election, most Western commentary criticized the unfair process preventing Putin’s primary opposing party, Yabloko, from running. Yabloko – which means apple in Russian but actually is an acronym for the last names of its three founders –  is the only pro-democracy and anti-war party in Russia. By contrast, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun congratulated Russia for the “smooth conclusion” of the process and hailed the elections for representing “the will of the Russian people.” 

Chinese media commentary did note that Yabloko was prohibited from participating in the election as a party, although some Yabloko candidates were still running in single-member districts (and all lost). Given the lack of real electoral competition, a Hong Kong media outlet, China Review News Agency, pointed out that the 59 percent turnout (7.6 percentage points higher than the previous Duma election in 2021) reflected “the state’s mobilization capabilities,” not increased political participation. 

Putin’s televised address in the lead-up to the election framed it as an opportunity for Russians to express their support for the war in Ukraine and as “a collective response to those who seek to weaken Russia,” Chinese commentary reported. More than 200 Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine ran for the Duma and election commission chair Ella Pamfilova reported that 46 of them won seats – 41 of whom belonged to United Russia, the ruling party that has dominated the Russian political landscape throughout Putin’s leadership. 

With the elections held against a background of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian soil and rising prices, Ma Bin, deputy director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University, called the Duma election a major test and demonstration of Russian political stability. Chinese military analyst Shi Hong agreed that United Russia’s overwhelming victory demonstrated that for Russia “stability was paramount” and would support continuity in Russia’s military strategy and appropriations. Zhang Yanjun, a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies in Shanghai, predicted that the results of the election (held for the first time on occupied Ukrainian territory) would make Putin more intent on demonstrating strategic resolve and less likely to make concessions on Ukraine.

Since the failed coup attempt by the (since deceased) Wagner Group chairman, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in 2023, Chinese officials have made some efforts to reach out to officials beyond Putin’s inner circle. Wu Dahui, deputy director of the Russian Research Institute at Tsinghua University, emphasized that the Sino-Russian partnership has become institutionalized in a dense network of 60,000 channels at all levels of society, which he likened to the “blood vessels” sustaining the partnership. 

Nevertheless, recently Chinese and Russian officials have emphasized the importance of top leader ties for their partnership. Following their most recent summit in May 2026, a Chinese diplomat hailed the relationship between Xi and Putin as “the fundamental guarantee” of the partnership. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov credited the “diplomacy of leaders” for codifying progress in the partnership in concrete agreements. 

With the Russian ruling party, United Russia, capturing the majority of seats in the latest election (349 out of 450), Guo added that China would continue to work with Russia to implement “the important common understandings between the two presidents to make fresh progress and bring bilateral relations to new heights.”

A 2019 article by Professor Wang Zhihua in the Rule of Law Forum of the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law about the role of the Duma in the Russian political system noted that in the Russian system the president has “absolute power” and constitutionally outlined checks and balances are “merely nominal, resulting in a unique presidential system with Russian characteristics.” Wang concluded that “In short, in Russia’s political system, the president has too much power, the parliament has less power, and the judiciary is also weak.” 

In Wang’s view, the configuration of the Russian political system based on a strong president with personal charisma may be expedient in the short term for the country’s revival and rise. However, he cautioned that the expansion of presidential power may ultimately lead to a crisis and undermine the long-term development of legally based governance. 

Such conclusions could easily be applied to China and it is not surprising that this article, which I obtained on September 11, 2026, is no longer accessible on the CNKI database of academic articles and or on the Baidu search engine. 

Chinese scholars’ assessments of Russian political developments also contribute to our understanding of Chinese views about the long-term viability of the Sino-Russian partnership. An analysis of the Duma election by a Chinese military blogger emphasized the importance of Putin’s continued hold on power and his ability to restrain hardline factions from even more escalatory actions in Ukraine. The blogger wrote: “For China, while the specific choice of Russian leader is important, Russia’s ability to maintain stability and policy continuity is even more crucial. This is why Sino-Russian relations have been continuously strengthening institutional ties in recent years.”

The results of the Russian Duma election startled no one in Beijing, but Chinese observers followed them closely. The topic is a controversial one in China due to the obvious parallels between the Russian and Chinese political systems and the stake the Chinese leadership has in the stability of their neighbor.