I suspected the naval exercises in the Med are intended to extend the SAM range of coverage as a sort of early defence layer, but those ships also have plenty of anti ship and anti sub and anti aircraft missiles, so could they be deployed to push back western launch platforms to allow longer periods of warning and engagement?
And also potentially engage launch platforms if they launch too many missiles for the air defence forces to handle?
If Russian assets are going to contribute to the defence this time a single Su-35 could be armed with 12 air to air missiles perfectly capable of each bringing down a cruise missile no matter how low it flys.
Its radar and IRST could be used to detect and track targets that could be passed on to ground based missile systems.
Obviously it also adds the dimension that over zealous air defence forces could accidentally shoot down a friendly...
I am sure they know what they are doing...