There may be two sides to every story. But it’s not often we see a pair of completely different interpretations of a single political speech. However, it happened on Thursday, as Putin announced his vision for the upcoming years of Russia’s development.

Predictably, Western media reacted hysterically to Putin’s boasts about Russia’s improved missile capability, while the domestic audience focused on the real meat: the Kremlin is about to embark upon a massive renewal project which will kickstart its economy and hopefully increase the quality of life across the vast country.

This is precisely what Putin wanted. And his message to external observers was very simple: the West must face up to the fact that it has failed to contain Russia and it can’t defeat the country militarily.