maybe a better vet 1 ability would be nice also, something to help its performance or utility similar to how the Ost sniper has the incendiary rounds and the Brit sniper has an incredibly potent snare. I'd say overall though 1 man snipers mean Soviets actually need to use proper micro of snipers for maximum effective instead of before where counter snipes were super difficult for OST.
Im not sure what ability would be good though to replace flares
If you want something on par with these two in effectiveness just make the flare much cheaper or even free. Self spotting sniper goes a long way in increasing its effectiveness.
That said what we know is that the change will most probably make it imballanced, its hard to say whether its going to be OP or UP after the changes. Every other change added to the unit right now can potentially make the situation worse. So I wouldn't touch vet1 until we have some real playtests like a small tourney in new patch or something.