We need a moon base before we think about sending people to Mars. With a moon base, we could build a large space ship that could carry other smaller craft needed for landing and taking off on Mars. It would be better to build it on the moon because of the low gravity and can use both earth and moon resources. If we had a moon base capable of using resources on the moon, we could build a space network of craft to go back and forth to Mars.
I don't think Russia should be invited to take part since they are not much help and usually against us here on this planet plus they they just come along to steal technology.