I am kinda sure the captain mindset was already "switched" to Latakia take-off and landing.
Best keep the "kinda sure" opinions out of this.
It's nonsense, a TU154 doesn't light up like a bird and blast off on afterburners like stuff off an aircraft carrier.
Like it or not, it was full of a load of singers.
Nobody needing to be impressed at all in some ordinary airport in Sochi, just not expecting to be tipped suddenly into the sea & fed to the fish, a few days from the new year's parties.
Frankly, some of the speculation here has got out of hand.