To quote
Wikipedia (always dangerous, I know, but it fits with what I heard when I used to pax on them):
Like many other Soviet-built airliners, the Tu-154 has an oversized landing gear enabling it to land on unpaved runways, once common in rural areas of the Soviet Union.
So it ought to do a better job in these circumstances than an equivalent Western-built model. I don't think "unpaved runways" was meant to include areas covered with scrub and small trees, though!