EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker has called for the creation of an EU army

Brussels chief Jean-Claude Juncker has called for the creation of an EU army in the wake of rising tensions with Russia.

The European Commission President said an EU military force would help defend the continent from Vladimir Putin's aggression.

He said: 'You would not create a European army to use it immediately.

'But a common army among the Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union.'

He said a joint EU force would be more economical than each country individually ordering their own military kit. It would also drive further integration of the bloc's 28 member states.

'Such an army would help us design a common foreign and security policy,' the former Luxembourg prime minister said.

He insisted the army would not challenge NATO's role defending Europe from Russian aggression.

Mr Juncker, speaking to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, said: 'Europe's image has suffered dramatically and also in terms of foreign policy, we don't seem to be taken entirely seriously.'

The proposal is likely to infuriate Conservative backbenchers but has been welcomed in Germany.

Germany's Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that 'our future as Europeans will one day be a European army' although she added 'not in the short term'.

She said such a move would 'strengthen Europe's security' and 'strengthen a European pillar in the transatlantic alliance'.

But Ukip's defence spokesman Mike Hookem said a European army would be 'a tragedy for the UK'.

He said: 'We have all seen the utter mess the EU has made of the eurozone economy, so how can we even think of trusting them with this island's defence?

'This is simply a disaster in the making that would see Gibraltar returned to Spain and the Falkland Islands left open to an unopposed invasion by Argentina.

'Even more concerning would be the prospect of British troops under European command operating in the eastern Ukraine.'

European Commission President said an EU military force would help defend continent from Vladimir Putin's aggression

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said relations between Russia and the EU are likely to be 'prickly' for many years

It comes amid warnings that relations between Russia and the EU are likely to be 'prickly' for many years.

The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned that significant further sanctions could be imposed by the EU unless Moscow abided by the terms of the Ukraine ceasefire.

He said under Mr Putin Russia had moved from being a partner of the West to seeing Europe as an 'adversary'.

Mr Putin's view of Russia's influence over former Soviet states 'puts him at odds' with the West, Mr Hammond said.

Newly mobilized Ukrainian paratroopers wait to board a helicopter as tensions rise with Russia

On BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Hammond warned that further aggression by Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine would trigger an escalation in the sanctions regime.

'We have all made clear that if there is a big assault, for example on Mariupol, that will be responded to with a significant increase in the economic pressure on Russia from the EU,' he said.

Asked if that could trigger a new Cold War he said: 'I don't want to talk about cold wars, but we are clear that Russia has decided, it has made the decision that it wants to be in a strategic competition with the West, with Europe.

'It doesn't any longer see us as partners, it sees us as competitors or even adversaries and that means that we are going to have a difficult, prickly relationship with Russia probably for some time to come.'

'We don't think there can be a military resolution to this crisis. The disparity between the size of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Russian armed forces doesn't make that a sensible way to go.

'We have to insist that the rules-based system which says very clearly that you can't change international boundaries by force, is protected.'

Although Mr Hammond said it was clear that 'we are not going to fight the Russians in Ukraine', the UK was providing support to Kiev.

'We are providing training, we are providing technical support, we provide them with non-lethal equipment,' he said.

'We have said that we will keep this under review.'

He said that under the peace plan agreed in Minsk, Moscow has committed to handing back control of all of Ukraine's territory, including the border with Russia, by the end of this year.

'We have to hold them to that. If that doesn't happen Russia can expect the temperature to be turned up significantly,' he said.

A machine gun sits inside a pro-Russian rebel trench along the front lines two kilometers from Ukrainian troops

He stressed that there was a 'hard red line' protecting Nato's Baltic members from Russian incursions, with the option of invoking the alliance's measure allowing for collective defence: 'Mr Putin knows that very well and that is what protects the Baltic states.'

Mr Hammond claimed the Russian president believed he had 'some kind of strategic veto' over the freedom of action of former Soviet states.

'That puts him, frankly, at odds with our view of the post-Soviet settlement in Europe,' the Foreign Secretary said.

Pressed on the Nato 2% spending target, Mr Hammond said: 'I can't tell you what will be in the Conservative manifesto, but you will find out soon enough, and I can't prejudge the outcome of the security and defence review and the spending review that will take place after the next election.