Russians were interested in going to the Moon.
The problem was all the crashes!
But not everything crashed. Some landed.
Here is an interesting link to a little bit of info about the Russian version of the Rovers called 'Lunokhod'.
http://vsm.host.ru/e_lunhod.htm
As for Russia not being interested, the Lunar missions were: (not counting the 3 failed Lunar Launches in 1958 and many in other years)
luna 1 (2-1-1959)
luna 2 (12-9-1959)
luna 3 (4-10-1959 )
luna 4 (2-4-1963)
zond 3 (9-6-1965)
luna 5 (9-5-1965)
luna 6 (8-6-1965)
luna 7 (4-10-1965)
luna 8 (3-12-1965)
luna 9 (9-28-1966)
luna 10 (3-31-1966)
luna 11(8-24-1966)
luna 12 (10-22-1966)
luna 13(12-12-1966)
zond 5 (9-15-1968)
luna 14 (4-7-1968)
luna 15 (7-3-1969)
zond 7 (8-7-1969)
luna 16 (9-12-1970)
zond 8 (10-20-1970 )
luna 17 (11-10-1970)
luna 18 (9-2-1971)
luna 19 (9-28-1971)
luna 20 (2-14-1971)
luna21 (1-8-1973)
luna 22 (6-2-1974)
luna 23(10-28-1974)
luna24(8-14-1976)
asia sat3/hgs-1(12-24-1997)
with Luna 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 13 known to have landed.
There was also a rumour floating around for a long time that the Russians actually crashed a Manned Mission killing the Cosmonaut only 2 weeks before Apollo 11 reached the Moon.
I guess we'll never know the truth about that one
Another interesting fact, Russia's Luna 1 missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to fall into orbit around the Sun.