I’m trying to judge this in the context it was made; speedier play in tournaments.
Even in that light, one very important thing has changed from 1940: starting units relative to production. After the massacre of Germans on the eastern front R1, Germany has little left to bring against the USSR except what they build. However, Russia is building as well. It looks like Germany doesn’t have the starting units to sustain any kind of push anytime soon in the game that they did in 1940, but the objectives are the same and Russian production is effectively the same.
I don’t think letting Germany go first in this setup would be devastating to balance at all. (I played a variant of original Europe once where Germany’s first turn was to decide whether or not to retreat or try and hold Stalingrad. It was a lot of fun, and a similar starting decision here (although I know it’s earlier than that) would be cool too).