“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 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