Can We Find a Middle Ground on the Russia First Turn Attack Rule In Allies and Axis?
Another option (in addition to the fighter option, perhaps) would be to prohibit (or limit) what German naval units can be attacked by Russia on the opening move.

When I play Russia and am allowed to attack on the opening move I aim to:


Wipe out the transport and sub in the Baltic Sea Zone with my two fighters. This carries a bit of risk because if the transport hits I lose a fighter and Russian fighters are essential. Another downer for the Germans when I make this move is that their sub is pinned in the Baltic Sea Zone since the UK Sea Zone is occupied.
Remove the German sub from the Span Sea Zone. If I'm feeling lucky I'll use just my Russian sub, but more generally I use my sub and transport.


With these moves, Germany is going to have a hard time taking out both the Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets in the first turn, and will likely suffer some crippling loses if they attempt to do so. That means:


Less chance for Germany to take and hold Africa for any appreciable amount of time,
A quicker introduction of the "shuck-shuck" strategy, and
Less chance of any sort of counter-attack against the UK sea zone in an attempt to slow the inevitable.


In short, successfully weakening the German navy at the very start of the game puts even more pressure on Japan to break through to Russia before the US gets into full "shuck-shuck" swing.