Thanks for all the inputs.
What radar did Pulkovo have in their TU-154?
Southern Airways DC-9 was flying the old x-band magnetron radar, and it sure could lead you into a storm, if attenuation was so great all the energy was absorbed.
The solid state radar since 1982 senses path attenuation, and has a circuit called Path Attenuation Compensation. It can show an alert for display in the direction where attenuation compensation has run out of capability. That's why the BBC/PBS program last year was completely off base. It guessed the pilots didn't see the storm behind the storm. BS.
Delta 191 into DFW 1982 was the old radar and not at cruise alt. Besides, there was no indication on the CVR that they had even looked at the radar.