Viewed with the sound off, it appears on video to be a tour of a typical construction site in eastern Ukraine. But unmuted, the report by Russian TV host Arkady Mamontov becomes more ominous. As eerie music overlays the din of power drills, the camera zooms in on a tube protruding from a piece of brick wall and then quickly cuts to what appears to be a small shower room.

U.S. lawmakers apparently now believe that the way to counter Russia's information offensive is by supplying propaganda of our own. The code for this is "messaging" -- in other words, the priority should be on "getting America's message out."

Armed gunmen wearing military fatigues burst into the office of Roman Lazorenko in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk recently. They had a simple request for the local journalist. The men said they didn't want to be called separatists anymore, Lazorenko told the Guardian. They demanded that journalists instead refer to them as “supporters of federalization."

The conflict in Ukraine came up during the Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to Cuba Tuesday.Sergei Lavrov is in Havana meeting with his Cuban counterpart.Cuba has backed Russia in the Ukraine crisis.

No sooner had the leaders of the so-called "People's Republics" of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Odessa declared the return of "Novorossiya" ("New Russia") earlier this month than they began fighting among themselves. Though they agree that the entire southeastern portion of Ukraine should join their self-proclaimed breakaway nation, they are divided over who should lead this new government.

Moscow is subjecting Ukrainians, Russians and the rest of the world to an intense campaign of disinformation that tries to paint a dangerous and false picture of Ukraine’s legitimate government. Russia Today, the Moscow-based TV network financed by the government, is a key player in this campaign of distortion. Along with its Russian operation, RT operates an English-language broadcast out of Washington.

The Obama administration should expand U.S. television and radio broadcasts  aimed at former Soviet states to ensure that ethnic Russians there receive information other than Moscow-controlled broadcasts, State Department veteran Paul Goble said at The Heritage Foundation.