That's not surprising that your friends over in Moscow say that the Western media is pretending that the Russian economy is in terrible shape. The same exactly was done regarding iran in the 1980s. The same EXACT method of demeaning an entire people by slyly maintaining that they are so incompetent that the citizens can not even be fed by the government.
It's a WELL-rehearsed act, therefore.
What do your friends say about the lines for food in Soviet times, though ? Those were actual, I am sure, due to the disastrous planned economy. But today, there are no real lines for food ?
Is the economy OK, then ?
I know what your friends mean saying that every item is available for them. [ Even Harley-Davidsons - ! ]
When I visited in the 90s, my friend there kept protesting when I offered to bring her consumer goods that I figured she couldn't buy there. She waved my repeated attempts away, saying the same "We have everything here !" She finally agreed to accept some anti-mosquito bracelets which were apparently not on offer in Russia at that time for traveling in remote marshy areas to visit monasteries. Another person agreed to accept a special kind of safe-carrying camera bag called a "Zing" which I doubt was sold anywhere there. I was GLAD, for I wanted to help them be comfortable rather than struggle. They had both escorted me to VERY remote northern areas, so I was trying to show appreciation. Without their Russian translation, I could not have managed to book into a hotel, for example, in tiny towns where no one had seen foreign travelers at that point.