I always dislike to make guesses, but...
Looking into this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qTiR7hraf0
We can see the FLAPS CONFIG IS CLEARLY 15º for the entire TO procedure, the AC does all correctly and arrives into destiny airport (Minsk) in perfect shape.
Gear is retracted about 6 secs after being airborne and 15º flaps are retracted to 0º about 115 secs later.
If this AC can TO with this configuration, why not the Sochi one?
So why many say a 28º (then retract to 15º) was the "regular config"?
There is a certain data: FLAPS WERE RETRACTED when crashed after a clear photo of a wing taken when washed off from Black Sea waters.
If there was an order of flaps-up, provided they were settled 15º, the only possible next position was ZERO DEGREES.
And now, what about the confusion of levers or its sequency (which I see too difficult for an experienced crew)?
There is the slight possibility of a confusion (flaps-up instead of gear-up first), but the TU-154 is a very powerful bird. If it reached +/- 300 km/h at about 250 m (800 feet), even with the gear DOWN and FLAPS 0º would push-up with no problem until things were cleared and the cockpit people calmed enough to settle things to "regular".
As far as I know, throttles on a TU-154 are FE (flight engeneer) commanded. They're not a responsibility of the two in command, so it's very difficult to think in a loss of thrust due to a "cockpit mess".
And also confusing is the RIGHT TURN. If the AC is doing nonsense (whatever the reason) why the hell any PiC would like to make a turn in such a conflictive scenario? This puzzles me...
