Russia is world’s last colonial empire. The two reasons to allow it to keep its colonies (ie most of the territory east of Moscow) was to keep it as a force stabilizing the region and to prevent them from being claimed by China. Now it’s no longer useful in the former role, as evidenced by conflict in Armenia, and if China pivoted to the West - given that Russia is a clear loser - it might not make sense to pursue the latter.
How is China pivoting to the West? Just last week we have Canadian parliament denouncing China for running extra-territorial "service stations" staffed by policemen in Ottawa.
And you have OPEC+ saying "No." to Biden and the White House repeatedly.
China is quietly following the sanctions, for example - more so than several EU countries. The “police stations” are a red herring from what I can tell.
