TODAY: Varied rallies reveal ‘disunity’ day; state news broadcasts inaccurate story about OSCE in eastern Ukraine; Naftogaz makes first payment to Gazprom; EC expects sanctions to expire next year; Russians traveling less due to economic woes; Russia will boycott 2016 nuclear summit; Apple memorial ‘homosexual propaganda’ story debunked.

Over 600,000 people took part in events in celebration of National Unity yesterday, but the Moscow Times says the events demonstrated ‘a remarkable show of disunity’, because participants were spread across a large number of distinct rallies.  President Vladimir Putin marked the occasion by awarding state decorations to foreign public figures, and praising Russia’s ability ‘to defend its national interests’.  Russia sees the separatist elections held in eastern Ukraine over the weekend as ‘a triumph of democracy’, whereas the event was ‘universally condemned’ in the Ukrainian media, says the BBC.  RIA Novosti released an erroneous report last week that the OSCE had visited Donetsk to inspect polling stations.  Andrei Malgin wonders why Roskomnadzor issued a warning to Ekho Moskvy about its reporting of fighting in Donetsk, when it lets NTV, for example, broadcast various ‘propaganda that passes for news’ about Ukraine.  Russia’s proposed treaty with the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics ‘is suspiciously similar to its September 2008 recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.’  Naftogaz has sent Gazprom its first payment of $1.5 billion, and must pay another $1.65 billion before the end of the year.