The spray deflector is part of the nose gear, nothing special there. I suspect that this was mainly a 'confidence boosting' short flight (in VFR conditions) just to confirm that: Yes, it does fly and Yes, we do still have a capability to produce these aircraft. Do not discount a political angle that would prefer to see any flight, even if there was no real operational or technical need yet. I can imagine how Comrade Putin will thump his chest on national television about this.