Moscow still backing rebels in eastern Ukraine, Nato chief says

Russia has moved troops closer to the border with Ukraine and continues to support rebels in the country's east, Nato's chief said, after an election held by the pro-Russian separatists and condemned by Kiev and Western leaders.

"Recently we are seeing Russian troops moving closer to the border with Ukraine," said Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of Nato.

"Russia continues to support separatists by training them, by providing equipment and supporting them by also having Russian special forces inside eastern parts of Ukraine."

Russia has denied military involvement in eastern Ukraine.

The pro-Russian separatists meanwhile staged swearing-in ceremonies for their leaders in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. Moscow says the election of Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky as leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics", which jointly call themselves "new Russia", means that Kiev should now negotiate with them directly.

But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday's vote flouted terms of a plan to end a war that has killed 4,000 people.