That is correct, as opposed to the American approach of dropping it off the back of a 747 and gliding it in.
But, I agree entirely with John's real point - that the Russians were their own engineers, and Buran is an original design that just happens to look a bit like the Orbiter. It wasn't a copy - some politician may have said "do a Space Shuttle, like NASA's", but that's about the level of genuine copying.
Had it had the chance, it might even have proved itself a better system.
Early 90s, I spent some quality time in a Soviet design bureau, they really were very good at what they did - and that wasn't ripping off foreign designs.
G