The EU mission, viewed by Kosovo Serbs as an unacceptable symbol of Kosovo's independence, is intended to replace the current UN mission, which has been in charge of the territory since the end of the conflict between Kosovo Albanians and Serb forces in 1999.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's six-point plan, which proposed that the police and judiciary in ethnic Serb areas operate as part of the UN mission while Albanian-dominated parts of Kosovo work with the EU mission, was reluctantly accepted by both sides.
In a statement, the 15-member Security Council said it welcomed the intentions of Belgrade and Pristina "to cooperate with the international community."
Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic reiterated that Belgrade would never recognize Kosovo's independence, but said, "The Republic of Serbia gives its full consent to the six-point agreement and conditions laid out for the deployment of EULEX."
Kosovo insisted it would continue to reject the plan, which Pristina contends will mean the de-facto division of the region into ethnic Serbian and ethnic Albanian areas.
However, the country's foreign minister, Skender Hyseni, said that Kosovo was prepared to cooperate with EULEX, but added, "We will not permit any action that infringes upon the sovereignty...of the Republic of Kosovo."
Russia, which opposed Kosovo's independence, also backed the EULEX deployment. Moscow's UN representative, Igor Shcherbak, told Russian journalists following the meeting that Moscow had given its approval of the UN statement at Serbia's request.
"As Serbia has fully approved the UN agreement...and has agreed to the conditions outlined in the report on the deployment of the EU mission...Russia has given its consent to the UN statement," Shcherbak said.
Kosovo, 90% of whose population is made up of ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in February. The province has since been recognized as an independent state by the United States and most Western countries.
A historical ally of Serbia, Russia objected to Kosovo's independence, "calling it a dangerous precedent."
In late August, after a brief war with Georgia that erupted when Georgian forces attacked the pro-Russian breakaway republic of South Ossetia, Russian recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel Georgian province, as independent states.
So far, only Nicaragua has followed suit. Kosovo did not recognize the republics, with its president insisting that it was "a special case which cannot be treated as a precedent for other conflict zones, territories and regions."
The statement came two days after Russia's foreign minister had said that Moscow's decision had no parallel with Kosovo, apparently backtracking on earlier statements that international support for the Balkan province would trigger a chain reaction of secessionist regions declaring independence.
