454 hours of flight time seems low for a military plane built in the 80's. That is not very many flights from the Soviet Union to off the U.S. coastline.
Many Soviet vehicles and aircraft weren't of great build quality so they tended to have training vehicles that would be used by many crews until they fell apart, and vehicles reserved for combat.
This aircraft was built in '87, by which time the Soviet economy was in serious trouble and training was at reduced levels. The Bear always projected a scarier image than was reality.
> there is a TU variant with swept wings, var geometry, and jet engines that replaced this plane that most Russian republics use
"Most Russian republics"? So, more than half of the 1?
And "Tu" is just an abbreviation for Tupolev, its not a particular plane of which there are variants. Saying a "TU variant" is like saying a Boeing variant.
And there are two different Tupolev strategic bombers that meet that general description (the Tu-22 and Tu-160), neither of which is a variant of the Bear.
This aircraft was built in '87, by which time the Soviet economy was in serious trouble and training was at reduced levels. The Bear always projected a scarier image than was reality.