They are not really used for launching cruise missiles - they are used as recon platforms to provide midcourse info to the cruise missiles.
They have a radar cross section like a skyscraper. There was some joke about this “We have sighted the enemy - dos vadanya, Motherland!”
No offence, but I think I'll rely on Maj Gen Pavel Androsov, who identified these aircraft as Tu-95MS, which is a cruise missile carrier.
No. Those days are long-gone. You are thinking of the then Soviet Navy Tu-95RT Bear Ds. All those airframes are now retired.
The Tu-95MS Bear H are operated by the long-range aviation force of the Russian Air Force. Their sole role is long-range air-launched cruise missile carriers. All the airframes were covered by SALT later START and then SORT treaties. The Tu-95MS can carry a maximum of 16 extremely long-range ALCMs. All are new-build airframes with the last being produced in the early 1990s.