Who is the best at each tier with no premiums, only their planes, cas and ranks (maybe helis but no ka50)
Definitely Russia at higher tiers, specifically 11.7 has what I refer to as the “cancer lineup” with the T-90M, T-80BVM, Su-27SM with its 1400kg LGB, Su-25SM3 with the Kh37L, and the Pantsir S1
Lower tier ground is definitely gonna be slight hell for you but USSR gets paired with Germany often enough that it wont be too bad, past the IS-2 its decently good afaik
Air between the two nations are very similar but I would recommend USSR because of the better CAS options and the better aircraft but China is nice if you want the semi-best of both Russia and America as it gets the Taiwan subtree
***Do not use my opinions as a definitive answer, I played Chinese air for a fair bit and I’m grinding USSR on my alt but past that all my knowledge is strictly from facing down Russian and Chinese equipment