“Study of the moon is not the goal,” said Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst. “The goal is political competition between two superpowers — China and the USA — and a number of other countries which also want to claim the title of space superpower.”
I don’t question Russian science or engineering, but is this project going to run into the same sorts of issues their war has?
Considering levels of corruption in the last few years and hard brain drain I guess Russian space exploration is doomed. Thanks, Putin!