USSR, yes. But the ISS was launching during a time when USSR no longer existed and Russia was fairly isolated. Hence, "obviously": US at that time had many close allies, but Russia had only a few, and not as technologically advanced.
Quite the opposite, the West welcomed weak and crumbling Russia. To a limited extend, of course, but still Russia joined G7 and many European organizations. Western companies were busy buying privatized Soviet assets pennies on the dollar.
