He flew it to Japan. The US went there, took it apart and inspected every bit of it. We were surprised at how crude it was. Then, the US boxed it up and shipped it back to Russia.
Back about the time the Soviet Union fell, they had a Space exhibit in town at the museum and I went to it.
I don’t know if it was just because it was an exhibit piece that was never meant to fly, but one of the most memorable things for me was looking at one of the satellites whose fold out solar panels used rather heavy steel angle iron (like I’d use building a barn) for the panel framework.