Really? I agree that Russians are a bit weak now, but I never had problems with the shock troops as Russian. They own infantry. As soon as they hit the field the Grenadiers are running back in terror to keep the distance. Even PGs lose in a fight against them unless they are vetted. - And by that time the Shocks are usually also vetted. Recently I have been trying to use G43s to combat shock troops, but I find them incredibly hard to take out with small arms.
They have a lot of durability, too much. That is why they can win some engagements. But their firepower is really lacking. The PPSH needs some buff, either needs to fire more often or be more accurate/powerful. They should be like an assault units like Commandos that can inflict a lot of damage very quickly on isolated infantry or support units, instead they are this bullet sponge firing paintball guns.
Off topic but I just don't get the same constant damage feeling I got from vcoh. If you had a Ranger w/ Thompsons, MP44, or any other sort of submachine gun unit they would quickly melt the health bar with crits happening more frequently as the target squad health got lower. When a PPSH fires (and they only take these weird 2-3 shot bursts for some reason) it seems to either do nothing, does a tiny amount of damage, or just crits a guy dead. I never see that consistent health bar decay effect which really just seems like those guns are literally RNG machines.