What I'm interested in testing is the utilization of Russia's massive resource bonus into economic gains.
You figure, under any equal situation, you have 100% more resources than anyone else. However, why does this necessarily need to translate into a 100% larger military? You could maintain a military that is 50% larger, and instead gain what is likely to be huge profits in both gold and luxury resources (likely the more profitable trade) by trading the excess 50% resources off.
For example;
You and an opponent have 10 iron. This means your opponent can field 10 iron units, and you 20. However, you could instead choose to field 15 iron units to their 10, and sell off the 5 iron to someone else for gold or luxury resources. You still remain the more powerful nation between you and your enemy in terms of military might.
Plus, given the value of strategic resources, and the excess of luxuries (having more than one granting no benefit), you'd likely be able to get 2 or more luxury resources for the cost of one strategic. This directly equates to an increase of 10-15 happiness, which is huge.You could also choose to make negotiations for what is likely massive gold per turn gains.
Further, since Russia has the unique possibility of having "excess" strategic resources... you don't always need to trade off excess luxuries in order to acquire the luxuries you don't have. Why is the appealing? Well, simply because in a 1:1 trade of luxuries, you're gifting the A.I. 5 happiness which boosts the performance of his empire in the various ways that we're familiar with. With a 1:2 trade of one of our strategic resources for 1-3 luxuries... We're gaining 5-15 happiness for the price of their military size increasing by a single unit. A staggeringly unbalanced gain.
Unless of course the A.I. is programmed to understand that they're getting bamboozled... and the value of strategic resources aren't as high as I'm assuming. However, even if the trade is 1:1... 5 happiness for a military unit you don't really need is a great payoff. Especially when, as I said, Russia can maintain the largest military in the world while still being able to sell off excess resources for economic gains.