The political atmosphere certainly played a part. But this is true for both sides of the iron curtain, where Soviet literature was suppressed outside the Soviet area of influence, while Russian authors who did not align with the Soviet values were relentlessly suppressed (and imprisoned or killed) in the Soviet Union.
There are also some authors of whom I would say that at least some of their works were highly regarded both in and outside the Soviet Union, such as Maxim Gorki (Mother), Boris Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago), and Mikhail Sholokhov (The silent Don).
The political atmosphere certainly played a part. But this is true for both sides of the iron curtain, where Soviet literature was suppressed outside the Soviet area of influence, while Russian authors who did not align with the Soviet values were relentlessly suppressed (and imprisoned or killed) in the Soviet Union.
There are also some authors of whom I would say that at least some of their works were highly regarded both in and outside the Soviet Union, such as Maxim Gorki (Mother), Boris Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago), and Mikhail Sholokhov (The silent Don).