I don't know what you meant by standard opening setup. If you meant 4 influence in Poland/East Germany etc. that is players choice and not part of the setup of the game.

Edit: The board is set up in a way to have all the mandatory influence on the board with the player then being able to decide where to put their respective additional influences in Europe (plus handicap anywhere, if they want to).

From the rulebook:
3.2 The USSR player sets up first. The USSR places a total of
15 Influence markers in the following locations: 1 in Syria, 1
in Iraq, 3 in North Korea, 3 in East Germany, 1 in Finland, and
6 anywhere in Eastern Europe.

3.3 The US player sets up second, placing a total of 25 Influence
markers in the following locations: 2 in Canada, 1 in Iran, 1 in
Israel, 1 in Japan, 4 in Australia, 1 in the Philippines, 1 in South
Korea, 1 in Panama, 1 in South Africa, 5 in the United Kingdom,
and 7 anywhere in Western Europe.

Makes sense, thanks!