I have never heard of that story SSD, it sounds most implausible.
That sort of decision would have to be made at a much higher level than just a RR exec.
I cannot find the reference at present but there is documentary proof that the Labour government of the day did, in a moment of extreme lunacy, give this engine to the soviets.
It has even been suggested that the ideological leanings of certain members of that government influenced the decision, but I could not possibly comment on the truthfullness or otherwise of that.
