“This article aims to summarize the background of well-known and not so well-known Soviet rocket engines, the history of their development, their main characteristics, and the rockets they flew on.”
The Soviets bet early on closed-cycle staged combustion, the efficient design that wastes no propellant. One of those engine families became the RD-180. That Russian engine powered the Atlas III and still flies American payloads on the Atlas V. The space race had a winner on engines, and it was not the side that won the Moon.