With a three man crew, there would be less chance of a repeat like Germanwings Flight 9525.Even in Russia proper it has taken direct government intervention for the carriers to start buying Russian aircraft in quantity.
I can understand the carriers point of view though. Even relatively reliable and modern aircraft like the Tu-204 or Il-96 had less automation and required a 3 man crew vs a 2 man crew in Western aircraft. This made the Russian aircraft less competitive. There was also a lot of corruption leading to Western aircraft sales in the 1990s.