(MOSCOW) - Russia on Wednesday described Kosovo's proclamation of independence as a "gross violation" of international law and said an EU security mission to Kosovo had no legal basis.

The proclamation "is a gross violation of international law. That doesn't even need to be proven," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in Moscow.

"The whole world knows perfectly well that the negotiations were interrupted in an artificial fashion due to external interference," Lavrov said, referring to talks between Pristina and Belgrade prior to Kosovo's independence declaration on Sunday.

He went on to criticise the European Union's sending of a "Rule of Law Mission" intended to help stabilise Kosovo. The mission comprises some 2,000 people who will train and mentor police, judges and customs officials.

"The European Union is unilaterally sending to Kosovo a mission to uphold the law. There is a bitter irony even in its name -- a mission to uphold the law in violation of the supreme law, international law," Lavrov said.

Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, vehemently opposed Kosovo's declaration of independence, supporting its ally Belgrade and opposing the United States and other Western powers on the matter.

Moscow has called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to state publicly his position on the Kosovo situation.

A Kremlin spokesman said later Wednesday that the United States was wrong to try to paint the Kosovo situation as unique and without relevance to other separatist regions around the world.

"We cannot agree with our American colleagues that the case of Kosovo is unique... You can already see the first signs of a chain reaction," said Dmitri Peskov, as cited by Ria-Novosti news agency.

He said Kosovo's independence had been "greeted with joy" by separatist regions around the world.

In a statement earlier, foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said that the sending of the EU mission "has no kind of legal basis.

"As is known, preparations to deploy the EU mission have bypassed and are bypassing the UN Security Council," Kamynin said in a statement.

Kamynin went on to describe as "absurd" the EU's mention of UN resolution 1244 in a declaration on Monday -- the resolution being interpreted differently by Brussels and Moscow.

"The Council of the European Union, proposing that each member defines its position on Kosovo, in fact sparked a chain reaction of illegal recognition of Kosovo as an independent state.

"The European Union, continuing to pursue a unilateral scenario for solving the Kosovo problem, is acting to damage stability in the Balkans and in Europe and encouraging separatism in the world," he said.

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