Eastern Ukraine's rebel leader sworn in Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, attends the ceremony of his inauguration in Donetsk. The newly elected leader of a self-proclaimed republic in eastern Ukraine on promised closer ties to Moscow following polls denounced by Kiev and the West as a sham. Elections in the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk on November 11 saw their acting separatist leaders returned to office. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES