I screwed up by not turning on the video when I started testing. I didn't realize I had forgotten to turn the video on until I turned it "off". heh
That said, starting from outside their firing range resulted in both Russian SAM batteries and both US SAM batteries firing no matter which direction I approached them.
What I was doing was unnecessary, knowing that now will save loads of mission creation time in the future.
I never did get the SA-2 batteries to fire properly for reasons we now know and their not firing is what prompted me to explore other options including trigger zones.