They are flying in small formations, sometimes without fighter escorts. The aim is to provoke intercepts from NATO forces around the alliance's periphery.
What Russia currently does with NATO is effectively to test reaction time of air defense. You fly a Tu-160 across the Bay of Biscay and you wait to see at what moment the [British] Royal Air Force and the French air force react.
You measure the response times of those air forces and try to get an idea of what electronic defenses are arrayed against you in that area by listening and recording details on when you get painted or illuminated by radar.
That information could be used to identify the best way into NATO's air defense zones if a war began. NATO airspace is heavily monitored and defended, but no defense is perfect and there will be holes.
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