We've got astronauts in the ISS, and they can't live up there forever. I'm sure that the Russians could bring them back down, but I don't think anyone in our current government is likely to let that happen.

The Russian's don't actually need to send a ship up to get them (though they are launching an unmanned supply ship today anyway) as they always keep a Soyuz capsule docked with the ISS. That way it is always ready to be used as a lifeboat to get the crew home in an emergency.

I think the US will need to pump some more cash into the Russian space industry over the next year or so though, so that they can plug the gaps left by the lack of Shuttle missions to the ISS.