"The question every citizen of Serbia has for the European Union today is: How come that in the case of Catalonia the referendum on independence is not valid, while in the case of Kosovo secession is allowed even without a referendum," B92 quoted Vucic as saying during a news conference.

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"How did you proclaim the secession of Kosovo to be legal, even without a referendum, and how did 22 European Union countries legalize this secession, while destroying European law and the foundations of European law, on which the European policy and EU policy are based?"

On Monday the European Commission echoed the Spanish government’s stance that the referendum held in Catalonia was illegal, describing the events on Sunday, which saw voters being beaten by Spanish riot police, as an “internal matter”. By contrast in 2010, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging its member states to recognize Kosovo’s independence.

"This is the best example of the double standards and hypocrisy of the world politics," Vucic said.

The largely ethnic-Albanian province of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a war in 1999 which saw the US and its NATO allies intervene on behalf of Albanian rebels against the government of what was then Yugoslavia.

NATO’s mission, however, lacked a UN Security Council mandate. The Republic of Kosovo is now split into seven administrative zones, with the region’s remaining Serbian population occupying Mitrovica district in the north.

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Russia has consistently pointed out the hypocrisy in the EU allowing the Kosovars to declare independence at Serbia’s expense, but condemning the 2014 referendum in Crimea which saw the formerly Ukrainian peninsula join the Russian Federation.

The reunification of Crimea with Russia has been a contentious issue between Russia and Western governments which have attempted to hold Moscow accountable through sanctions.

“Our western partners created the Kosovo precedent with their own hands. In a situation absolutely the same as the one in Crimea they recognized Kosovo’s secession from Serbia legitimate while arguing that no permission from a country’s central authority for a unilateral declaration of independence is necessary,” President Vladimir Putin told the Russian parliament in 2014.

“It’s beyond double standards,” Putin said. 

The central government in Madrid deployed thousands of extra police officers to Catalonia Sunday to prevent the independence referendum from taking place.

Nevertheless, millions of Catalans took to the streets to cast their ballots. The ensuing crackdown by Spanish security forces left some 893 people injured, according to Catalan authorities.