USSR, Soviets, Russians, are the original allied faction in COH2. Soviets are the backbone of any competent allied team, and one of the more forgiving factions due to everything (well, almost everything) being quite cheap. Soviets in meta are a very aggressive, non-stop faction akin to the OKW or USF, with very good endgame tools that, if used correctly, can make every and all opponent cry.
If playing as axis, NEVER underestimate a good soviet player. Their mainline, albeit weak at the start of the game is somewhat lacking (in most cases), in the late game their power spikes to astronomical levels.
Also thanks for Ban1st for providing screenshots of higher quality

Soviets, similar to ostheer, are the only faction that has to build buildings to progress in their tech, with the most basic one, the Regimental Field HQ, being available from the start of the game. This building provides you with your mainline infantry - Conscripts (referred to as cons henceforth) and combat engineers. Additionally, you can get upgrades for said infantry (molotovs and snares), as well as medics, who heal your troops.

Combat Engineers
This is the squad you start with, and one of the most important ones in the early and late game. Engies are the builders of your base, and the cheapest squad in the game, so you shouldn't feel bad about getting a second one pretty early on, 4 extra rifles are 4 extra rifles after all. Engineers can repair your vehicles, and build cashes, mines (which are essential in the mid-game, keep that in mind, mines win games), Foward HQs (in Urban defense and Airborne doctrines, albeit they work differently from each other) repair stations (in soviet industry doctrine) and howitzers (B-4s and ML-20s, B4 being buildable in counterattack and tank hunter doctrine, and ML-20 being available in Guards Combined Arms, Soviet Combined Arms andTerror doctrines)
Engineers can be upgraded in two ways: with flamethrowers and with minesweepers.

The first one is quite painful for the enemy in the garrisons (flame-based weapons deal bonus damage to them), and in cover (it ignores cover completely). In the early game, you should keep your engies close to your mainline, for additional fire support, or if the necessity comes, merge with engineers. Remember, flamer is a very deadly weapon.

Minesweepers are a utility upgrade on the other hand. It enables the squad to (duh) detect mines and also positively affects their repair speed. A good upgrade, that works when the engineer squad is in a half-track or a scout car (keep that in mind)

Veterancy gives them Trip Mines, accuracy and repair bonuses, and veterancy 3 causes them to no longer take extra damage when repairing under fire.

Conscript Infantry Squad
This is one of the two mainlines that soviets have, other than penals. Cons are versatile, cheap, and reliable, albeit very weak initially. They have 6 models, nondoctrinal sprint, molotovs (that have a very long animation initially), snare, and an ability to merge with other squads, including support equipment. Conscripts also can build sandbags, tripmines and light AT mines (same preformance as the rear echelon mines)
Remember, that conscripts are not a "regular" squad, and have to relay on either number advantage, better positioning or outmanourvering your enemy. Unless upgraded or vetted, you have no chance to beat axis troops long range.
In terms of their upgrades, conscripts have a lot to say, probably the most out of the infantry mainlines, along with grenadiers.

- PPSh SMG - Pepesha* smg is the original upgrade for the unit, that is available for the Conscript Support, Soviet Reserve and Advanced Warfare doctrines. The upgrade gives the cons 4 PPSh smgs, that while inferior to shock troops guns, are still smgs, and can win with pretty much every 1v1 engagement with early assault units such as MP40 volks or Assgrens. The upgrade is also bundled with 'Hit the Dirt' ability, which allows cons to, well, hit the dirt, and become bullet sponges that are immune suppression.
Consider this one as more of a sidegrade more than everything else, albeit VERY effective one in the maps like Mill Road.

- SVT Rifles - if you want the power, here it is. With this upgrade available to the VDV Airborne commander, your conscripts become a powerful infantry able to counter most of the enemy infantry, 5men grens and maybe G43 Pgrens aside (and maybe pfuseliers, but I rarely encountered SVT cons when focusing on them as OKW so I can't really tell). Use it to counter osttruppen strats and generic OKW builds relaying on Volks.

-7men Upgrade - While the SVTs granted the conscripts damage, the seven men upgrade, available non-doctrinally when T3 (buyable) or T4 building (free!) is built, this upgrade significantly ups conscripts survivability, turning them into tanks without tracks. What this upgrade does (aside from giving squad capeless guard model) is reduces the conscript weapon cooldown in cover (regardless if it's green or yellow cover), and enables them to vet faster. An essential upgrade for your mainline in the late-game that also reduces the reinforcement cost.

PTRS Tank Hunter upgrade - This is probably the most interesting upgrade for cons, that grant them 3 penal PTRS anti-tank rifles. Available for the Tank Hunter Doctrine. About the rifles themselves, I will talk in the penal segment, and here I will just talk about the abilities that the upgrade gives. First off, the snare is replaced with AT Grenade barrage, the highest non-off map damage that can be done to vehicles in-game, detection of vehicles (same as in the AT section), and passive camo, same as the non-vet recon infantry of the WFA. This enables cons to perform an ambush on an unsuspecting armor that had the displeasure to meet this lethal AT squad.
Note: This upgrade severely worsens the cons AI performance, and is advisable to support your conscripts with either support weapons or penals.

Veterancy reduces their received accuracy, increases the speed of the sandbags being build, gives them trip mines. Veterancy 2 increases their accuracy and shortens the molotov's throw speed, and vet 3 reduces weapon cooldown, RA and reduces their snare recharge time.

*Yes, I'm aware that in Russian it's Papasha, but since I'm polish and it was always a Pepesha for me, I decided to leave it as it is.

The building that you can build initially instead of support weapon company, the T1 provides you penal troops, sniper and the scout car, allowing you to perform aggressive pushes, counter snipe and harass the enemy in the early game

Penal Troops
AKA. Shtrafniki, prisoners, criminal scum, or simply penals are the legendary "semi-elite" infantry of the soviets. Those guys your second mainline option, and they're... lackluster, to say the least. Of course, they pack a punch with their 6 SVTs (the same that Conscripts have from weapon crates), but that's about it. They have not much going for in their veterancy (aside from the absurd 50% accuracy bonus), and the 'To the Last Man' passive is simply not effective (you receive +4% accuracy, -2% weapon cooldown, and -3% received accuracy per lost model). Vet 3 fixes this thing a bit, but you have to consider that penals are on the more expensive side of the reinforcement cost. Penal builds suffer from a lack of AT guns, and PTRS most of the time doesn't save them. Penals have two abilities, a Satchel charge, which acts as a timed demolition charge, and AT satchel charge, which sticks to the enemy vehicle and usually produces engine damage, if not outright kills it.
Ah yes, PTRS. It's actually good. Yes, I said that. Now, before you crucify me, let me defend myself. By the time of writing, AT rifles CAN'T miss. Yes, you heard me right, they can't miss. High accuracy of their rifles is in exchange for lack of damage and penetration (despite that, PTRS and other handheld AT weapons will always do damage even if the shot won't penetrate, thanks for the reflection damage). The problem with the AT rifle isn't the rifle itself, but the unit. Penals simply don't work in the AT role, their veterancy is not suited for AT rifles (since they're accurate af), it's just plain bad in most cases. That thing said, they have their place in the elite troop builds, where penals support shocks with light AT. Or guards with even more damage, while guards take care of any vehicles.
Oh, right, I guess I should talk about the PPSh upgrade from the Airborne commander. It's the shock trooper's one. But has absurd accuracy becuase penals installed an ACOG scope on it. becasuse of the penals get 50% more accuracy they're on vet 3
Veterancy gives penals "To the Last Man" ability, lesser weapon cooldown, RA reduction and discount on their satchels.
Soviet Sniper
It's a sniper. Pretty good, suited for recon with his/her vet 1 ability. Use to best effect with Radio Intercept against OKW, since they don't really have a counter to it early on.
Veterancy gives the sniper flares, lesser weapons cooldown, reload speed reduction and more sight. Veterancy 3 improves the fire rate even further, and increases the range that flare could be shot.
Since I have some downtime over here, I'm going to explain how camouflage works. Snipers and veteran infantry (Partisants, Commandos and Stormtroopers, and some others) stay camouflaged and invincible to the enemy after leaving cover for a short bit. And that's it. Just keep in mind that the infiltration units are bugged, and models that were reinforced don't hold fire (mostly seen on commandos, stormtroopers...)
M3A1 Scout Car
A unit that has my personal favorite quotes, scout car is a nightmare for early game OKW and assgren/non-osttruppen T1 skip builds. This thing is fast, can transport up to one squad, quite durable, and with proper micro (and flamethrower engineer), can cause an entire flank to collapse. Deadly to support equipment, but very vulnerable to snares of any kind, not to mention AT guns.
Update: It has more HP in exchange for armor, gains shared vet, and can cap territory at vet 2 onwards.

T2 is here to provide you with... support equipment! Yes, I know, obvious, but still. Anyway, the building provides you with three basic support weapons: Zis-3 AT gun, Maxim, and 82mm mortar. I think I should point that out already, but soviet support weapons are usually worse than Ostheer's, but they have higher survivability. EVERY single piece of soviet equipment, even stolen, is going to be 6 men crew. That thing said, keep in mind that the crew of the gun will be consisting of the models that were in the squad (for example, if you get an MG42 with shocks, the gun will be immune to small arms considering how strong the troopers are), and you will pay the manpower equivalent of that squad's cost of reinforcements.

M1910/30 Maxim Heavy Machine Gun
Oh boy, the maxim. Often regarded as the worst mg in the game, this piece of Russian engineering is very mobile, cheap, and deals consistent, accurate damage (hence why it vets so fast). In terms of suppression, the maxim is... up to debate, to say it politely, but as I said, it makes up for it in its damage and accuracy.
Veterancy improves the reload on the Maxim's ability, improves suppression, rotation speed, and vet 3 improves accuarcy, rate of fire, and rotation speed. Again.


BM-37 82mm Mortar
Soviet mortar is often forgotten about, albiet I don't really know why. It's a pretty good mortar, especially considering that it has a stock flare, slightly better stats than the ostheer's mortar and a relatively cheap price. Then again, most of the game is very mobile, and unless playing againts a person hell-bent on placing bunkers everywhere, you won't find much use for it. Hell, even in that role it's often outclassed by the AT guns. Poor mortar.
Veterancy improves the flares range, reduces recharge on all barrages, and vet 3 turns the mortar into laser cannon, because it improves the HE barrage's accuracy.


ZiS-3 76mm Divisional Field Gun
Zis-3 is the soviet stock AT gun, costing the same price as the german pak-40 (and its twin brother, 6 pounder) while having slightly inferior stats. Why? Oh, I will tell you why: it's barrage ability. For the cost of few munitions, Zis-3 can become an HE shell dispenser, able to kill most of the infantry that comes across it and is unable to move for some reason. Deadly against support equipment if the opponent doesn't react fast enough.
Aside from that, it's a pretty decent AT option that you can also get now via Supply Drop in Soviet Reserve doctrine.
Veterancy gives the ZiS gun tracking ability (which improves LOS of the gun and detects nearby infantry), improves the rotation and reload speed, while vet 3 improves penetration and reload speed even further. Also, vet 3 improves the barrage range slightly.

Tier 3 offers you utility tools similar to Ostheer Tier 3 building, but this time around, the options are completely mechanized. SU-76, T-70, and the M5 Half-track are available here, as well as the option to get 7men conscripts early.

T-70
The light tank option for the soviets, T-70 excels in early-mid game bleed, harrasing the poor team weapons, engineer troops. In addtion, it can fight light vehicles with it's 40 damage 45mm gun, abliet engaging anything heavier than a Luchs or 222 is a rather bad idea, unless you have a VonIvan levels of micro and attack ground tracking. T-70 also has option to switch to recon mode, which will improve the LT's sight from 35 to 50, or 65 if vet 3, which is an extremely good advantage, and scales very well into the late game, when for example T-70 gives vision for your tank destroyers.
Veterancy grants ability to capture points while in the recon mode, improves accuracy and reload speed, and vet 3 gives max speed increase, less scatter, more sight in general, and rotation speed.



M5 Half-Track
Another tier, another lend-leased tank. M5 is a great utility vehicle, especially after it has been buffed to allow MGs, snipers and mortars inside (keep in mind that those units can't engage from inside), as well as allowing to heal troops outside of combat. Halftrack is good alternative LV to the T-70, due to it's versility and cheapness, costing mere 30 fuel.
M5 can be upgraded with the M17 AA package, which helps the unit's scaling immensely, being able to beat a 222 in a 1v1 fight, supressing blobs long range left and right, albeit for the price of not being able to reinforce or transport troops.
Veterancy unlocks overdrive (which increases the LV's acceleration, reduces RA of the halfrack and troops inside it), increases the reinforce range, speed, rotation speed, acceleration. Vet 3 improves the reinforce range further, as well giving it more sight and improving the .50 Cal's accuracy.


SU-76
If I'd have to describe the SU-76 with one word, I'd be redundant. This 60 range 120 damage light tank destroyer is supposed to be an anwser to light tanks, but honestly you are better off with just backteching to T2 building and getting an AT gun, and don't get me started on how this thing is bad when in tanden with conscript builds. Generally, you'd want to get it ONLY when you're getting raped by light vehicles or look desperetly for a Puma/AA HT counter, otherwise, stay away from it.
To argument this SPG terrible nature, it has an overpriced ZiS-3 barrage, which once again is bad because it's overpriced!
Veterancy gives the option for the tank to enter into a hulldown camo position (with 20% accuracy and penetration first strike bonus), increases the damage from 120 to 140 while making the SPG more accurate as well as making it accelerate faster. Vet 3 gives it more range on the barrage, reload speed reduction and rotation speed.

Tier 4 of the soviets is pretty good, to be honest. As I mentioned before, it unlocks the 7man upgrade, and grants the soviets the gloriously powerful late-game tools in the form of Katyusha, T-34, and SU-85. And also a couple of doctrinal tanks, can't forget about them!

T-34
The stock soviet medium tank is known for its spammability and great anti-infantry performance. And that's honestly it. Yes, it is supposed to be a flanker, a constant harasser, and a combined-arms tool, and the tank is great in those roles, but on its own, it's pretty bad, especially if you're going to put it in a 1v1 tank engagement. This thing will lose to a panzer 4, regardless of the veterancy, variant (of the panzer 4, that is). Only if you're flanking, have support or your opponent will somehow bounce or not hit your tank multiple times you're going to score a kill.
Veteran ability is the same as the T-70's, you can cap territory, albeit now it's somewhat safer doing that since T-34 won't get snared with only one Faust.
And there's also the ram. The ram mechanics are pretty complicated, but I will try to present them as well as possible.
So, first off, ram is an attack that... rams other vehicles, rocket science, I know. The ram itself is ""weapon"", that has a penetration of 160 that will always cause crew shock (in other words, stun), and if the ram penetrates, there 90% of chance that the engine of the target will be damaged. Ram effects on the T-34 are quite severe since it will immobilize the tank (not permanently if I recall, again Ram is a messy thing) and destroy its main gun. Ram nowadays is mainly used in doctrines with off-maps, mostly airborne since this one is the most effective most of the time.
Veterancy unlocks the secure mode (which allows the tank to capture points), improvement to reload, weapon rotation. Veterancy 3 improve reload, rotation speed of the tank itself, speed and acceleration.

SU-85
Tank destroyer of the soviets, this thing is a sniper, like any other allied stock TD, and Jagpanzer, d-don't forget about it. It will be important, I swear!
There are a few things that make the SU-85 so good: It has pretty good penetration (240 pen at close range is nothing to scoff at), ability to self spot (and since it has 60 range this is quite useful), and having a smaller than average target size, making it harder to hit (for reference SU has 18 target size, while most mediums have 20, and the jagpanzer has 17 I said that jp will be mentioned again, and I did it!, Firefly and Jacksons have 23 and 24, respectively).
This is your go-to tank destroyer, and it will serve you well, very well because of the traits that I've mentioned here. Just remember to cover it with support, since the "zoomed in" SU-85 is very vulnerable especially. Oh yeah, and don't be me, and if you're controlling a group of those things, and ask only one SU-85 to zoom in.
Veterancy gives the SU tracking (same thing as the ZiS's tracking), bonus to penetration and accuracy, bonus to reload rotation speed, max speed and acceleration.


BM-13 Katyusha Rocket Truck
Rocket truck, fires it's barrage in three volleys. Katyusha is a nickname given by the soviets after a military song of the same name. Pretty fragile, but try it vaporises blobs of fascist infantry like no other.
Veterancy gives the Katy creeping barrage, useful for cleaning support equipment (since it works properly now), reduces scatter and recharge, and improves range.

Let's be honest, the stock soviet infantry and equipment... is pretty lackluster. But what about the doctrinal ones? Well, just like one person had said multiple times, let's find out!

Guards Rifle Infantry (classic ones)
Guards Rifle Infantry are an elite infantry force available to usually guard commanders (by that I mean that have "Guard" in the name), and those are Mechanised Support, Guard's Combined Arms and Motor Coordination and Soviet combined arms. Guards are in my opinion the most versatile elite troops in the game, being able to kill infantry (with DPs), and armor alike, albeit the former is much harder after various nerfs, reworks, and revisions. Having the PTRS from the start, guards are usually the answer to light vehicles in the most desperate situations. Upgraded with 2 DPs, they're able to 'button' a vehicle. A present from the brenned infantry sections of vCoh, this ability slows down a vehicle and cripples its ability to see (since guards aim at their "lines of sights"), and thus making it severely vulnerable to every and all AT sources to be honest. A good way to weaken slow and heavy tanks, since it will slow them as well. The button is canceled if the squad moves.
Guards can use RGD-33 HE soviet grenade. Aside from fact that it's the only squad (okay one of the few) that has grenades, it's nothing really special I want to believe that western allied grenades were modeled after it, though not sure about it. Still, the grenade is costs a bit too much in my opinion.
With veterancy one, the guards get an upgraded 'hit the dirt' ability called 'firing positions'. This ability is VERY good. It increases guards damage output by a significant rate, and... I actually couldn't find any source on the ability. Sorry. But hey, they could throw smokes! Further veteran levels increase their PTRS pen, give them survivability bonuses, and boost their accuracy by a bit.


Shock Troops
Papa Stalin's dogs are here! Available for Shock Rifle Frontline, Shock Army, Counterattack, Urban Defense, Shock Motor heavy, those tough as nails troops will demolish any and all squads in close quarters, and with their armor and selection of grenades, they're a very lethal unit that usually causes the enemy squad to retreat if close enough. Unlike guards, they're quite straightforward - with their only oddity being their armor, that I will be covering in a minute.
Shocks are equipped with PPSh SMGs that will create more holes than the enemy can count and a grenade that's, normal. Huh, wasn't expecting that. A smoke grenade is pretty standard and worth mentioning that they have a shared cooldown, that is reduced with vet 1. Vet 3 increases their throwing range.
And now for the shock's main selling point: armor. Now, a bit of a known fact, but ever since the armor system on the infantry was reworked to the received accuracy system (a looooong time ago, somewhere in 2014 maybe?), almost all squads lost their armor. All except shock troops. And with an armor value of 1.5, they're able to soak up a lot of punishment even from the start.


Partisans
Armia Krajowa's finest, the partisans are here to backstab the enemy when he's not looking. Initially, Partisans are a four man infiltration squad armed with Kar89k's, with a similar damage profile of the guards mosin, albiet a bit weaker. Other then that, they excel at asymetrical warfare, having access to mines and barbed wire. Also, they have a medkit to heal them when outside of combat.
The partisans have two upgrade roads:
PPSh package - grants extra man, and arms the squad with PPSh with roughly conscript levels of DPS (so ~9,5 DPS till range 10), HE grenade and molotov.
Panzerschreck - gives the partisans a panzerschreck, soviet AT grenade and a vehicle detection ability.
Veterancy unlocks the concusive trap (which stuns an unit that went in the cap circle of some point), cooldown decrease, RA reduction, ambush improvement and molotov improvement. Veterancy 3 increases accuracy and molotov's range increase.

Assault Guards
Rare and deadly CQC units, this variant of the guards is available in the Lend-Lease and Anti-Infantry doctrines. Initially armed with 6 penal SVTs, assault guards. They similarly to the partisans, have two choices : three thomsons or two elite bazookas. First one grants them an insane CQC damage output, second gives them AT capabilities. Oh yeah, they also have grenade volley, which functions that same as the infiltration grenades of axis infantry.
Veterancy grants them passive healing out of combat, decreases cooldown and RA, and finally improves accuracy and grenade volley range.
Airborne Guards
VDV guards are pseudo paratroopers, but honestly, they work a lot like JLI and Fallshrimjaegers back in the day, since they're an infiltration unit. They're available in the Airborne and Terror doctrines.
Anyway, the squad starts with 6 penal SVTs and can be upgraded in two ways: Shock PPSh (which also gives smoke grenade, camoflauge, and the cavalry rifles 'suppressive fire ability. Use them the same as you would use Thomson paratroopers or shocks) and DPs (Three DPs that fire on the move. Crazy amount of long-range firepower). They can throw grenades, and call in a strafing run at veterancy one. Vet 2 grants them passive healing out of combat, weapon cooldown bonus, received accuracy and vet 3 grants them whopping 30% more accuracy (also recharge cooldown get lowered).
After all those praises, do you think that those units are worth it? No, in the current meta they're not. Unfortunately, SVT cons dominate the Airborne doctrine, and instead of those interesting units, you'd most likely see a Dushka or another AT gun.
Commisar
The political officer from the NKVD detachment is also here. The squad comes with the Commissar, guard, and medic, first being armed with the 1895 Nagant Revolver, while the other two models are armed with penal SVTs. Available to NKVD Rifle Disruption Tactics and Soviet Reserve doctrine and has a limit of one squad on the battlefield at the time.
This squad, while having a pretty good combat prowess, is used for its utility: It has British medkits (I mean they work the same way as the British ones), grenade, and two unique abilities: 'Hold the Line' and 'Not One Step Back' Also fear propaganda. Hold the line increases the target's defensive capabilities while decreasing its movement speed, and the Not One Step Back increases units accuracy and rate of fire for the price of being easier to hit.
Veteran levels add another guard model to the squad, increases accuracy, and make the squad tougher.

(This section was supposed to be merged with infantry, but I think that I reached the character limit)

DShK Heavy Machine Gun
Dushka is a soviet mg available for the defensive, lend-lease, and airborne doctrines. To say that it's powerful is an understatement. Duska possesses the highest DPS out of all MGs in the game, excluding the abilities. It pays a big price for it, by having the lowest cone of all MGs in the game, though. It comes with AP rounds, which do what do you think to do, and sprint, an ability that I had never used. Pretty good mg all around if you know how to micro it properly.
Veterancy unlocks sprint, improves suppression, weapon rotation speed, accuracy, rate of fire.
PM-38 120mm Mortar
So, this is supposed to be section about the 120 mortar, and I'm supposed to give it a fair share. Well, I'm not gonna. No matter how they're going to buff it, it's still going to be inferior to the stock mortar.
But what the 120mm does? Well besides being doctrinal (being placed in the Guard Motor, Defensive and Shock doctrines), it does much more AOE, has more range and... that's about it. Aside from HE delayed shells that it gets on the vet 1, there's nothing interesting about it. Just don't build it, and get something else instead, like an AT gun, Dushka, anything really.
Veterancy is the same as the 82mm mortar, other than diffrent vet 1 ability, which is pretty good. Sticks to vehicles for some reason as well.
M-42 45mm Anti-Tank Gun
Known as the baby AT gun, this piece of soviet engineering is the possession of Defensive and Urban Defense doctrines. It's small and cute and usually used (in high-level matches, that is) to counter 222's insane 5-minute timing. Other than that, it's pretty bad. Its stats are bad, albeit it can camouflage itself, has access to special canister rounds that are also found on the American Greyhound. Vet 1 allows it to track vehicles in the fog of war (the same ability that hammer British tanks have), and the remaining 2 levels increase the gun's performance, including penetration. Damage is far below average, even snares deal more.
ML-20 152mm Howitzer
Static howitzer that can be accessed in the Guards and Soviet Combined Arms, Terror doctrines. It's a big howitzer, that is mounted on the SU and ISU-152 tanks (the more you know). On the gun itself, it's kinda like your drunk dad : it has a pretty low chance to hit, but once it hits, expect half of your body to be gone.
Veterancy adds a creeping smoke barrage (which is... useless mostly), scatter decrease, improved rotation speed, recharge reduction and range increase.
B-4 203mm Howitzer
Stalin's hammer available in Counterattack and Tank Hunter tactics.
B4 has been severly reworked in the last patch. Now, it shoots three shells, it's AOE and damage has been decreased and recharge has been lengthen. In exchange, it is going to suppress infantry now! Is the rework good or bad, it's up to debate, some say that it's good, some say that it's bad, I don't particularly mind the rework, since I hardly ever use the meme cannon anyways.
Veterancy gives the Howitzer an ability to shoot directly at the enemy tank or some other poor soul. There's also a reduction of scatter, recharge, and increase of effective range.

If you think that the Ostheer has a great variety in heavy (and call-in) tanks, then I'd like to introduce you to the soviet war machine, since the choice is honestly very big. From great heavy tanks, through versatile and powerful mediums, to very specialized infantry and armor killers, the soviet doctrinal tanks have got you covered.

KV-1
Kliment Voroshilov tank which can be built from the T4 building when Guards Combined Arms, Counterattack, or Conscript Support were chosen. It's one of the most iconic Soviet tanks during the early parts of the Great Patriotic War. Armed with essentially the same gun as the T-34/76, this monster on tracks is VERY durable, with pak40 having only 77% of the chance to penetrate its armor (which considering the gun itself, the chance is pretty low).
Veterancy for KV1 unlocks the inherited from the Royal Engineer Support doctrine (from vCoh) ability to go hull down. This will tremendously increase the tank's defensive capabilities (it receives 20% less damage and a faster reload). Further veteran bonuses improve the tank's reloading, speed and will improve the reload even harder (Vet 3 KV-1 will fire 70% more often when hull down). Great tank for defense or as a meatshield for your tank destroyers.
KV-2
Ahhh, the Stalin's fridge on tracks. This tank is a call-in unit available for the Urban defense and Soviet Industry commanders. Sporting a 152mm gun, this assault tank is suited to kill everything in its path. Every hit will deal damage because of the gun's caliber and deflection damage, but if the shot actually pens, well, let the enemy hope that it will NOT penetrate because a hit from KV-2 is one of the few that deals 240 damage instead of standard 160 that 90% of the medium tanks deal.
KV-2 can go into a static position, where the crew will fire faster, the tank will be able to fire further, albeit for the cost that it can't really attack close targets, making it vulnerable for dives. Oh, speaking of, when setting or tearing down, the KV-2 gain an absurd (900%) received accuracy penalty. Jarring and reminds me of the raketenwerfer's 1000% boost to penetration on vet 3 when ambushing.
(also the source that I use states that KV-2 "can no longer see" when it's immobile. No idea what does that mean, and I wanted to point that out here)

T-34/85
T-34/85 is a tank that's actually pretty good. You can get it in Armored Assault, Guards Coordination, and Advanced Warfare docs. The 85 is the improved version of the stock T-34 - it has more health, (800, able to roughly endure one more AT gun hit), a tad more armor, a better gun that can actually pen something this time. The vet is the same as the stocks.

M4A2(76)W "Sherman" Medium Tank
Remember Sherman from the mechanized doctrine? Yeah, it's the same tank. Smoke, HVAP, .50 Cal, radio net. It's available from the Lend-Lease. Read more about it in my USF guide (shameless plug)
KV-8 Flamethrower Tank
KV-1, but with a flamethrower. Nothing much to say. You can get it in NKVD Disruption, Anti-Infantry, Shock Frontline, Industry. Has a choice between flamethrower and 45mm gun, the same on T-70. Vet 1 unlocks the ability to inspire infantry, and in practice, they get a 20% weapon cooldown which is nice, but and sprint for all nearby infantry, allied infantry (regardless of faction) as well. The rest of the bonuses are KV1's but adapted to the flamer.
IS2
The big tank of papa Stalin, this monster is in the Armored Assault and Shock Frontline doctrines. Heaviest tank fielded by soviets, it's one of the better heavies that allies can get. Will win with panther 1v1, although it's going to have troubles with a Tiger 2, pak walls, off maps (Duska mg upgrade help in that regard though), and heavy tank destroyers. Use it to one-shot low infantry squads, kill bunkers and duel panthers, since Panther bounces from IS-2 quite regularly.
Vet 1 unlocks OF-471 Frag shell, which is even better at killing infantry than the standard rounds because they actually have to scatter this time around. The rest of it is pretty heavy tank stuff: Reload, speed, accuracy, range (from 40 to 50).
ISU-152
Hey, remember the SU-76, and its ability to perform a barrage? Well, you're going to be a big fan of this tank, because the ISU is the bigger brother of the SU-85 and 76. Armed with the 152 cannon, this assault gun can engage any tank, infantry squad, from the safe distance of 70 units. Yes, the 'Hunter' (as the Russians dubbed it) is a sniper through and through. Amazing tank, very versatile, is in strong doctrines (Shock motor heavy and mechanized support), it's only weakness is really that is SLOW.
The vet gives the tank Concrete piercing rounds, which can pierce any obstacle. It also receives accuracy, rotation speed, reload speed bonuses as well as scatter increase.

Airborne - Spam Conscripts with SVTs. Penals with PPSh for novelty. Ram T-34s into other tanks.

Anit-Infantry - It's pretty subjective, but always when I pick this doctrine, I bugsplat in the middle of the game. Anyway, KV-8 with assault guards, fear propaganda and bunkers.

Defensive - Great for T1 starts since it gives you a better (in Dushka's case) version of your stock options. Also tank traps. And AT overwatch.

Advanced Warfare - Get this one if you're a cons PPSh person. Also T-34/85 and skillplanes. (there's also a radio intercept here)

Armored Assault - Tanks tanks tanks. IS-2, T-34/85 and an IL-2 loiter. Also radio intercept. Great for sniper openings.

Partisan - Pretty cool in concept, it's a shame that COH2 doesn't reflect irregular warfare well. Also memes.

Guard motor - Mark target, guards, T-34/85. Lots of good stuff. Bundled with bad mortar and vehicle repairs.

Guard Combined Arms - KV-1, Guards, ML-20, and IL2 strafe. Now has bunkers instead of PPSh.

Soviet shock - It has been reworked, and has a pretty cool toolkit. Shocks with T-34/85? Howitzer strike? Cool.

Shock Frontline - BURN BABY, BURN. KV-8, shocks, IS-2. I think it's still meta in some game modes.

Reserve Army - Another reworked doctrine, has now access to dropped crew weapons, allowing it to do some interesting T1 openings, since you can easily get an AT gun.

NKVD Disruption - This one is underrated. Commissar's pretty good, radio intercept, AT overwatch

Urban Defense - Also known as the "cancer", this one has Field HQ, shocks, and a KV-2. And the light at guns.

Lend-Lease - Duska and M4C Sherman. The only thing that matters in this doctrine.

Terror - You might be laughing, but if you see VDV guardsmen kicking down your door, you will stop laughing. Also bombing run, and KV-8, as well as fear propaganda.

Counterattack - You're a memer and a B-4 enthusiast.

Combined Arms - Actually you migh be suprised, but it's one of the most popular doctrines. And I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because the bombing run? Guards? Maybe the ML-20? I don't know really.

Mechanized Support - ISU-152 guard doctrine, now with IL-2 strafe!

Shock Heavy Motor - It's mech support, but with shocks!

Soviet Industry - A way to go if you want to spam T-34! Or rush KV-2.

Tank Hunter - You're a memer, again. Not really practical, but god-like at taking down enemy tanks (obviously) and okw trucks.

- Do not forget that you have to be extremely aggressive in the early game. 4 cons start will provide you enough map control to perform cut-off maneuvers, while scout cars are going to help you with those pesky MGs. Sniper as well. And since assgrens have their sprint locked behind tech, Maxims are also *sort of* viable now, since they can't flank you so easily.
- Learn the timing of the vehicles. Skillful Ostheer player can have a 222 at a five-minute mark, and OKW player can have a flaktrack at about 6-minute mark. Prepare your mines, snares, or AT weapons for that.
- Osttruppen are a serious threat to the soviets, even after the nerf. If you see them, seriously consider getting either more elite infantry, a sniper (to counter snipe, since sniper is popular with osttruppen builds), or SVTs on cons. Or hell, maybe even PPSh or penals since they got buffed.
- If you use mortars, don't forget that you have smoke barrages (which have been buffed btw.)
- Spam sprint.
-Don't blob, and don't feed your enemy veterancy.
- Get a light tank to keep your supremacy.
- If you're planning on stalling for an IS2, don't. Get a light vehicle instead (or a T-34, depends on you)
- Since grenades are now bundled, you can use molotovs now! For example an unexpecting blob, or an advancing CQC squad (like stormtroopers or pgrens). Try to predict the cover that he's going to take and lob a molly there. Also, buildings are vulnerable to molotovs.
-Attack move with guards and penals, since they perform decently on long ranges.

Generic Cons build :
eng-cons-cons-cons-cons-tech-snares-AT-T3-T70-T4-AT-go from there
Pretty much meta at this point, this build gives you early game map control, good firepower, and doesn't cripple your manpower reserves that much, especially in the late game.
Can be done with any doctrine, but it gives the best results with VDV commander or if you rush 7men Cons instead of T-70. Or Tier 4. Depends on your playstyle.

Sniper Cons Opening :
Eng-T1-SNP-Cons-Cons-Cons-T3-T70-T4
This one I'd recommend against OKW or mg spam since they don't really have many counters to the sniper. Radio intercept is very recommended.

Guards Penal combo :
Eng-T1-PEN-PEN-GRD-GRD-T3-T4
Pretty underrated build saves you from building a T-70, researching snares. Pretty versatile, and maybe more viable considering that penals have lower cost and are more durable from vet 2 onwards.

'It's 2021 and I still spam maxims' build :
Eng-T2-Max-max-cons-dshk-T3-T4
Personally, I'd recommend lend-lease to this build, it's devastating against OKW early on since their lack of MG counters. Just be careful about your AT. If you went with lend-lease, get the guards, and in tier 4 start spamming Shermans, and get one Katy, just in case.

Penal PPSh build (more of a meme, but still) :
Eng-T1-PEN-PEN-PEN-T3-GRD-SU76-SU76-T4
Upgrade guards with DPs, and keep them close to penals, who will do the tanking.

Greyshot's shock troops Analysis
Helping hans's soviet bootcamp (holy molly it's over 2 hours)
Along came a spider's video about PTRS and PPSh upgrade
Sources are essencially the same as for the USF's guide; The serealia [coh2.serealia.ca]and COH2's veterancy guide[www.coh2.org]

I want to thank everybody for reading through the probably the only soviet guide which is up-to-date. Speaking of, I will take a week break from making guides, since the winter balance patch came out today, and I had to rework the guide to update it. Also pictures! Yeah, I'm sorry for the quality of them, but my craptop is not of greatest qualities.
That's about it. Once again, thank you for reading, and don't give up on soviets.
Also give my USF or UKF guides a read!