The Russian rework (which I think it's safe to say it's real, because if that was a joke it was drier than the Sahara and too good for its own good) looks pretty interesting.
Savinkov gets to power in 1934 (reinforcing the Hitler parallels and how he got to power in 1933), but Russia is still nominally and practically a democratic republic due to Savinkov's inability to force his most radical reforms through the senate (so, also making Savinkov's rise to power more distinct from just a copy of Hitler's). Russia can still go down every possible political path, from Tsarist to Democratic to Socialist (and I assume that military dictatorship is almost certainly in the cards too, with Kolchak now being back in the mix), but Savinkov needs to lose the power struggle that Russia will face in the early game, which is reasonable enough and keeps the substance of old Kaiserreich Russia being the most open-ended nation in the mod alive, which is what I think mattered the most.
Also, it kinda addresses the "Russia wouldn't have enough time to gear up for war after two decades of slow civilian industrialization under Kerensky", which should make Russia being a major power in the war have more substance behind it.
Transamur and Don-Kuban don't exist at the game's start, but will arise during the course of the game. Nobody knows how and whether this will be something inevitable or avoidable, but suggests that Russia will face considerable internal issues at the start of the game (probably connected with Savinkov trying to force his radical reforms and meeting a lot of opposition). I'm hoping Transamur and Don-Kuban will be well fleshed out and viable nations, not just optional afterthoughts, and that Japan will have an option to snag Vladivostok inside their sphere of influence.
What I'm wondering now is whether Wrangel is still going to have its niche tsarist path (which I hope it does because that's both old legacy content I'm fond of and Russian napoleon is too cool to lose) and whether anything changed in Central Asia with Alash Orda and Turkestan, since those two nations weren't referenced at all in the PR, but I guess we'll find out soon.