The aircraft involved is msn 91A871 built in 1991 so not that old.
Having reviewed the accident reports held by the Commission for Flight Safety in Moscow and Tupolev's records, I would say that 'technical faults/failures' figure no more often as factors in TU154 crashes than they do in western types - there are some of course but not many.
However, do TU154s put a greater demand for effective CRM than western-types? With pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, navigator and possibly radio operator, it strikes me that flying one of these puts a greater demand on correctly co-ordinating all these people.
Could some of the TU154 drivers on this forum who have also flown western types offer a view?
And just to avoid misunderstandings, none of my comments are intended as speculation on what factors may or may not be significant in this accident.