Yea, but great slavic friend is definitely not great anymore, and, while Hitler was alive, it was just a beaten slave (probably exploitation and looting similar - and longer - to what Soviet Union did in eastern Germany) that after Hitler grew into "possible" future friend.
Also, since Germany is lead by military, then their attitude towards Russia should be even more careful and calculating, then if the government would be civilian. For example, in OTL 1950, when France CHOSE to pursue the path of close cooperation with Germany, it was an ambition of civilian government. A military Germany government in 1964 would be very calculating about how to ensure that Russia never gets great again. For example, one thing is access to seas. Black sea access is already taken from Russia. How about giving Saintpetersburg to Germany? The reason might be: there is hostile (well, its not likely to go offensive, but still), communist Finland on the border, and Gulf of Finland anyway can hardly be used for civilian traffic, so, ensure the safety Gulf of Finland and ensure that Russia will continue to have difficulties with accessing international markets (the longer Russia has to rely on Germany for international trade, the more vulnerable Russia is, plus, if Russian government gets abit more independent in its thinking, then such situation would also start harming German-Russian relations). Player could choose to give the Saintpetersburg back.
Of course, then there's the problem of realism - for Saintpetersburg to be in German control might mean that Germany has to supply whole population with food and supplies. Thats a huge burden. Maybe have it more interesting, have a new tag - Free city of Saintspetersburg that is puppet of Germany
. Or, one could be very evil towards Russia and have also Free city of Moscow tag and Free city of Volgograd (Stalingrad, probably should be recalled in some Volga German name, maybe Old Sarepta).
Then again, would be good to have another capital than Moscow, but Saintpeterburg anyway is too close to hostile Finland.
About Belarus. There really should be real border between Germany and Russia for any meaningful EU style alliance to happen (which would be cool). So, there are three possible routes for that shared border: Ukraine, Belarus or Ostland. Ostland is least likely, they should have the highest level of independence already. I wouldn't be surprised if by 1964 they are not even puppets anymore (but can be for gameplay reasons). After all, even Hitler in 1940, before Baltics were occupied, was fine with independent, neutral Baltics, as long as they are giving Germany great trade treaties (like Switzerland). So, post-Hitler Germany with more rational leadership? Independent Ostland is fine. That leaves Belarus or Ukraine. Which would give Germany the least trouble? The least partisans? Then again, any meaningful, noticable partisan warfare has been brutally stopped by 1964, so, maybe its Belarus, because its closer to core German regions and so Ukraine (or parts of it, lets say Western Ukraine), can expect some level of independence. If there's enough provinces, then some Belarus puppet could also exist (central Rada government).
Because of exploitation of Russia that probably ended only in mid-50s, their IC should be what, on the level of Spain, Romania?
