They definitely knew, Soviet books on industrial design and architecture explicitly mention Birren [1] [1] https://www.google.com/search?q="биррен"+зеленый&udm

They definitely knew, Soviet books on industrial design and architecture explicitly mention Birren [1] [1] https://www.google.com/search?q="биррен"+зеленый&udm=36&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1900%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1990&tbm https://www.google.com/search?q="биррен"+зеленый&udm=36&tbs=... (search for Russian for "Birren"+green in 20th century books)