You fail to understand that the role of these ALCM carriers is stand-off. The cat and mouse game of bomber intercept was purely for the show of force games. They operated in international airspace and could legally come up to 12km from the coastline. In war-time the Tu-95MS would be standing-off thousands of miles away. The Russians have 3,000km ALCMs.
Think about it the other way. USAF B-52s would be standing off from Russian airspace and lauching ALCMs. In this role the platform doesn’t have to be put in danger as it can opertate in stand-off mode.
First strike wins.