Re: Depressingly political?
"The engine was designed by renowned gas turbine design bureau, JSC Kuznetsov, located southeast of Moscow."
So Russia(ns) designed and built the original base NK-33 engines, which were then modified. Some of the design mods appear to have been done by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau somewhat further southeast of Moscow in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. So whether the issues between Ukraine, Moscow, the US etc may have played any part in this failure. Then if those political issues aren't resolved, if US companies will be able to rely on imported engines.
But trying to blame Russia for this failure seems to make about as much sense as blaming Daimler AG for all car crashes.