The USSR was constantly trying to de-escalate tensions on the Cold War. The US actually kept pushing because they knew they had the upper hand in terms of resources in a post-war world, so it was a way to keep the USSR focused on keeping up rather than rebuilding. This led to the USSR using a significant chunk of resources on keeping up so as to not be nuked into oblivion in a first strike attack by the US. I recommend reading Do Publicly Owned, Planned Economies Work? which goes over the actual state of the USSR and what led to its downfall.
The USSR was constantly trying to de-escalate tensions on the Cold War. The US actually kept pushing because they knew they had the upper hand in terms of resources in a post-war world, so it was a way to keep the USSR focused on keeping up rather than rebuilding. This led to the USSR using a significant chunk of resources on keeping up so as to not be nuked into oblivion in a first strike attack by the US. I recommend reading Do Publicly Owned, Planned Economies Work? which goes over the actual state of the USSR and what led to its downfall.