Indeed to this, and to all the comments above. My point was not actually "Russia would agree to anything Norman Osborne asks," it was more along the lines of "Russia would certainly not refuse him on moral grounds, which makes a member of the Russian government telling Norman off a lot less satisfying than it might otherwise be."
Anyway, I continue to believe that my mustache thesis is in fact the real reason for the Colonel's support of Tony (and by extension Pepper).