(adds Solana; reaction from other breakaway regions)

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Russia backed ally Serbia on Sunday in condemning Kosovo's declaration of independence and called for the United Nations to annul the move Serbia's prime minister said was accomplished to further U.S. military goals.

The immediate U.S. response to Kosovo's long-anticipated decision to split from Serbia was muted by comparison. The State Department said it noted the declaration and was "reviewing the issue and discussing the matter with its European partners".

It called on all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint and to refrain from any provocative act".

The European Union's foreign policy chief also called for stability in Kosovo and the whole Balkan region. "I urge everybody to act calmly and in a responsible way," Javier Solana said in a statement.

But despite the appeals for calm, the stage was set for tense diplomatic sessions over the latest turn in the long and bloody break-up of Yugoslavia, and possible new crises as breakaway regions far from the Balkans said Kosovo's move strengthened their own independence bids.

"The situation with Kosovo is a precedent," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Abkhazia's President Sergei Bagapsh, whose country seeks independence from Georgia, as saying.

"All the talk about the Kosovo situation being unique is an example of a policy of double standards," he added.

The West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to save them from Serbian forces. The United States and most EU members are expected to quickly recognise Kosovo.

Russia says a unilateral independence declaration by Kosovo is illegal and the council should oppose it and demand more talks between the ethnic Albanians and Belgrade.

"IMMEDIATE ACTION"

Kosovo's vote in favour of independence was expected.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci read out a text in parliament made by leaders of Kosovo's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority.

The parliament, which includes former guerrillas who fought for independence in a 1998-99 war, approved the declaration 109-0. Eleven minority deputies, including Serbs, were absent.

Minutes after the vote in Pristina, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica branded the southern region "a false state".

He said in an address from Belgrade that Kosovo was propped up unlawfully by the United States which was "ready to violate the international order for its own military interests".

Russia's response was almost as swift. It called for immediate U.N. Security Council consultations on Sunday.

"We expect the U.N. mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take immediate action to carry out their mandate ... including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina's self-governing organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them," a statement from Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

"The decisions by the Kosovo leadership create the risk of an escalation of tension and inter-ethnic violence in the province and of new conflict in the Balkans," it said.

Kosovo's break with Serbia was watched closely by regions far from the Balkans seeking independence.

Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Azerbaijan's rebel Nagorno-Karabakh region and Transdniestria, which split from Moldova, all declared independence in the 1990s but have not received international recognition.

After Kosovo's declaration, South Ossetia's leader, Abkhazia's president, Nagorno-Karabakh's foreign minister all said the move strengthened their positions.

The separatist parliament in the Trandniestria region was expected to issue a statement on Monday on Kosovo's declaration.

In Belgrade, meanwhile, angry Serbs stoned the U.S. embassy. In the Kosovo Serb stronghold of Mitrovica, three hand grenades were thrown at U.N. and EU buildings, causing minor damage.

NATO said it would continue to provide security in Kosovo and deal firmly with any violence.

"All parties should recognize that KFOR will continue to fulfil its responsibility for a safe and secure environment throughout the territory of Kosovo ... unless the (U.N.) Security Council decides otherwise," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a statement.

The EU will send a supervisory mission to take over from the current U.N. authorities. NATO ambassadors were due to meet on Monday to discuss Kosovo, as are EU foreign ministers. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov and Christian Lowe in Moscow; Ellie Tzortzi in Belgrade; Patrick Worsnip in New York; Mark John and Dale Hudson in Brussels; Paul Carrel in Berlin; Writing by Mary Gabriel; editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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