WASHINGTON DC – US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the Russians are “asking for too much” in the US-mediated peace talks.
Vance suggested that it highlighted the need for both sides to agree on basic guidelines for direct negotiations, with Washington ready to mediate.
Speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington DC, Vance reiterated the negative impact of the war on all parties involved and said that the US’s humanitarian impulse is to “stop the killing.”
“I think it was the right thing to do for us to start the process of negotiation,” he said, defending US President Donald Trump’s early attempts to “agree with the Russian justification for the war, while criticizing the full-scale invasion.”
“You have to try to understand where the other side is coming from to end the conflict,” he said.
Trump, he went on to claim, has been “very deliberate” about forcing the Kremlin to lay out its position in order to end the conflict.
“You don’t have to agree with it… And certainly the first peace offer that the Russians put on the table, our reaction to it was, ‘you’re asking for too much,’ but this is how negotiations unfold,” Vance said.
While Vance ruled out the idea that Moscow was not interested in seeking a resolution, he said Moscow’s proposed conditions were “too much.”
“Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much. Okay?” Vance said.
As for Ukraine, Vance said the Ukrainians “matter a lot,” as being “the other party, at least, to the direct conflict.”
“And we have to ask, what is Ukrainian? What do they need in order to bring this conflict to a successful completion? And we’re going to continue to have that conversation,” he said.
Vance also reiterated Trump’s statements that he would “walk away” if he thinks he is not making progress.
He then went on to say that once, every four or five weeks, the public will hear US officials outline steps that need to be taken. The step the Trump Administration wants right now is for the Russians and Ukrainians to agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down with one another.
“We think that is the next big step that we would like to take,” he said.
Vance said the Trump administration believes it is probably impossible to mediate the talks entirely without at least some direct negotiation between the two nations.
He noted that Ukraine has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia does not view that as in its strategic interests.
“So we’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with the 30-day ceasefire,” Vance said.
The annual Munich Leaders Meeting, a Format of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), kicked off in Washington on Tuesday, May 6.
Vance, who had drawn a lots of criticism in Europe due to his landmark Feb. 14 speech at the MSC in Germany, where he attacked European democracy, told his Washington audience on Wednesday that while “the US and Europe are on the same team,” that does not mean the continents will not have disagreements from time to time.
He then added jokingly: “I wasn’t sure after February that I would get the invitation back, but it’s good to know it’s still there.”
Specifically, he said that his speech in Munich applied as much to Europe as it did to the previous US administration.
“It’s not Europe bad, America good,” he said, adding that both got a “little bit off track” in his view, and he believes that he would encourage everyone to get back on track together.
“We’re certainly willing and able to participate in that work,” he concluded.