While we did forget to mention the 50 fuel that you start out with as the Soviets, it's worth noting that the units themselves in these tiers are not powerful enough to compensate for their cost. Why do Allied units have to be inherently worse than their German counterparts? Why can't Allied units be good? It makes no sense to me. Of course, with the recent Katyusha nerf, there's literally no reason to build tier 4 for the Soviets, so now tank call-ins are basically the Soviets' 1 saving grace in this quickly devolving game balance.
Uhm yes, i haven't checked but i think they both start with 10 fuel + "the price of T1". But even then it still cost more than Germans for less.
The units are not "less good" they are just different for the most part. The germans are kind of the space marines of CoH while the russians are more specialised with each units. But why you can't build any regular in the basic tree? that i don't know. As it was discussed in another thread they could change the Penals for regulars still with SVTs but with a more standard loadout. I still prefer T4 because you can get the biggest gun in the basic soviet arsenal... a wooping 85mm not on a turret, talk about a deal. Yes there was some sarcasm in there.