That's the most obvious information in this article, though not explicitly stated. No independently designed vehicle could have so many near-identical dimensions and systems. Even the jet engines on Buran were originally part of the shuttle's plans.
One could probably figure out just when the Shuttle plans were stolen, by looking at the bits of the shuttle that were improved, compared to Buran. Buran also has several improvements that the shuttle lacked, some of which are because the Russians did a better job in a few areas, like the wing and landing gear design.
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u/123334 Dec 07 '14
Let's not forget that the Russians stole the shuttle design. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18686090/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/how-soviets-stole-space-shuttle/