I completely agree with you that Russia is incredibly strong in the treaty.
Because everything here is based on short point. You barely touch anything and it becomes impossible to play on it like a Dutch one.
Regarding the fort play: the point of you building forts with musketeers is that they are always at hand, and not because you use them as vils. it’s like with the Janissaries, who build all the military buildings, or the sentinels, who build outposts, where they can build and take aura. That’s why I started the conversation with the fact that this is a mistake. Russia has outpost cards but no outpost play. There is a fort play, but there are no crads for forts.
Grenadiers, in my opinion, are absolutely useless against all units except cassadors and strelets. This is because they cost 2 pop.