“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.”
Roscosmos has been one of the better run Russian agencies, mostly due to the fact that they’re using old but extremely proven technology from the Soviet era
I think this mission is their desperate attempt to have a success so Putin doesn’t draft half their workforce and tell the rest to start launching Soyuz rockets at Ukranian preschools
Except the time when Rogozin was in charge, at least.