Alright, I have not been playing a long time, only 9 or 10 in each country, but I have to disagree with the "russians are OP" that some people are shouting about.
I will admit, they need nerfing when it comes to levels 0-2. They are simply too good compared to their competitors. On the other hand, ranks 3-19 for the russians is mediocre. Let's look at the yaks, the main soviet fighters. Their turn rate? Meh, spits and zeroes can outturn them. Climb rate? Germans can beat them. Speed? Both germans and americans can beat them. Firepower? 1 cannon for the lower ranks is not great, but they generally stay on par when it comes to firepower. Their only real advantage is how general purpose they are. No matter what plane you are in fighting yaks, you can beat them in something assuming you are similarly tiered. The only thing they truly excel in is their toughness, which is a bit exaggerated to be honest.
And then the La series. Starting with the lagg 3, it is a solid line. At its tier, it is one of the better planes with the single 20mms and the high speed. In that low tier, most people completely ignore energy fighting so a properly flown lagg can be a hell of a plane unless somebody who knows how to counter it steps up. Their weakness is that they can barely turn compared to most fighters at their rank and anybody who has more energy than the lagg can easily beat it. Next up, the la-5. Another solid plane, it can hold its own. It used to be broken as hell and had seemingly endless energy retention, but that only lasted a week before it was fixed. It is a good energy fighter with good acceleration, decent climb, and a turn rate that can just barely beat the 109s. Once again, most planes at its rank can beat it if flown properly. All similarly tiered germans can beat its climb and speed and all similarly tiered brits can out turn it. The story is the same with the La-7. As for the firepower, 2x 20mms can get the job done, but they are really lacking on ammo.
Of course, the big thing people complain about it the yak-9T. Honestly, if you find yourself getting killed by a yak-9 a lot, you need to change something in your play style. The only good thing about them is the big ol 37mm on them. Other than that, they are a pretty shit plane. They are also pretty useless in HB because that gun has very little ammo.
To sum it up, the russians are jack of all trades and masters of none. Somebody who does not know their plane will probably be killed when fighting a russian but anybody who knows their strengths and weaknesses will be able to easily defeat them. People shouting about russians past rank 2 being OP, it is not the planes that need changing but it is you that needs to change your playstyle.