I consider Russians as part of the western civilization.
Even today the rest of the world imitates the products designed/invented in the western world. The products and the processes seems to get imitated faster than, the quality of western society which leads to such products.
I sit here in my room in Asia, and there is little around me that was invented in this continent. Plastics, Semiconductors, Motors, Electric Lighting, Cathode Ray tubes, Smokeless cooking ranges, Electric heaters for water and air, Air conditioners, Refrigerators, Microwave ovens, Radio communication, Fibre optical communication, Phones, Mass & Cheaply manufactured products to name just the broad categories of western inventions I see around me.
Why is this so?
Simpliest answer: Because western countries have been more prosperous for longer.
Things like inventions are made when people don't have to worry about putting food on their table. When people don't have to think about putting a shelter over their head, they have time to think of things like superconductors and microwave ovens.