There's no Russian state anymore, there's a mafia that runs the country, whose only goal is to stay in power at any cost. Hence Putin looks for an ally/protector in China because it will never insist on pushing Russia towards democracy the way other centers of power would (or would have, in case of the pre-Trump US). China will keep extracting big concessions from that vulnerability in exchange for their providing life support to the Russian regime.

It's a curious symbiosis that is very much against the interests of Russia, but that's what you get when a mafia takes over your country.