Yes, those engines (and ISS parts) were specifically ordered by US to keep Soviet rocket production busy and to avoid their migration to North Korea or Iran.
Please do you have a reference for it?
So they paid Russians to develop an ISS module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/element...
And they paid them to develop RD-180 engine: https://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/ac201/index.html