Could anyone with knowledge about engines explain why Russians always seem to prefer multi-nozzle designs? Is there some inherent advantage in redundancy, cost or some other factor?
For example, when in 1954 Energomash was designing RD-107, it had to make a decision which would allow to make engine soon - and they couldn't make single-chamber engine for the thrust required. So they went for multi-chamber design, since they didn't have time to do it differently.
In "Осуществление мечты" an engine professional, who worked in Energomash, mentioned that when Energomash was choosing 4-chamber design for RD-170, there were two groups of specialists defending different approaches. One group - which had experience with RD-107 (multi-chamber engine) and RD-270 (biggest one-chamber Energomash engine) - advocated single-chamber design. Another group - which had experience with RD-253 (single-chamber) and engines for Kosmos launcher - advocated multi-chamber design. The decision was influenced by having the instrumentation necessary to conduct testing of smaller chambers independently.