(BRUSSELS) - The European Union will on Friday start deploying its justice mission to Kosovo -- the biggest civil operation in its history -- EU officials said, despite strong opposition from Serbia and Russia.

The EU mission, known as EULEX will be formally launched Tuesday and will progressively take over from the United Nation's post-war mission UNMIK, which has controlled Kosovo since 1999, officials said Wednesday.

The task is to mentor Kosovo's transition, including controlling police, justice and customs, while remaining neutral regarding largely ethnic-Albanian Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

The EU mission already numbers 1,200 police, law experts and customs officers in the majority Albanian areas in the south of the territory.

That figure will reach 1,600 by the time of the official opening of the mission's offices on Tuesday, one EU official said.

Some UNMIK members have been "re-hatting" to join the EU team, an official said.

"This week is a transition week. On the ninth (December) we will have the formal opening of the EU offices," confirmed Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Led by former NATO commander in Kosovo, French General Yves de Kermabon, EULEX is currently present only in the mainly Albanian populated areas of Kosovo.

The EU offical said that "progressively from now till Tuesday," the first legal and customs experts, would arrive in the mainly Serbian areas to the north.

While the deployment in those area will be slower "the objective is to have the same capacity in both parts on the territory," he said.

By early next year the mission should reach its planned strength of 1,900 members, he added, along with another 1,100 local officials.

The mission members will have limited executive powers, notably to investigate serious crimes.

Despite disagreements over Kosovo's independence, strongly opposed by Serbia and its ally Russia, the 27 EU nations approved the civil mission back in February when Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

However it was not until last week that the European Union got the green light for the mission from the UN Security Council, in a declaration which remained vague on Kosovo's status.

The UN's formal neutrality has led to fears of partition among the ethnic Albanian majority.

Almost all 27 EU member states are taking part in the operations, plus several non-members including Croatia, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.

The United States will provide 80 policemen as it takes part in its first EU mission.

EULEX is initially scheduled to operate for two years. But the EU believes it should stay until the rights of all its residents can be guaranteed, which could take substantially longer.

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