Vance says US wields economic, military leverage on Russia in Ukraine talks

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington would be able to wield economic and military leverage in talks with Russia to ensure a good peace deal over Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied he was making any threats against Moscow.

Vance also urged Europe to spend more on defence in remarks before arriving for the Munich Security Conference, a major annual gathering of political leaders, military officers and diplomats.

In his keynote address to the conference, Vance lambasted the European Union for its regulation of hate speech and misinformation, which he said amounted to censorship.

He only briefly referred to Ukraine, saying he hoped a "reasonable settlement" could be reached.

However, Ukraine, and prospects for peace talks, preoccupied many at the high-profile global gathering after Donald Trump startled US allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcing the start of talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Vance, who was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later on Friday, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal before the conference that Trump could use several tools - economic and military - for leverage with Putin.

Vance's spokesman William Martin said later on X that Vance "didn't make any threats. He simply stated the fact that no one is going to take options away from President Trump as these negotiations begin."

Martin published what he said was a transcript from the interview, according to which Vance was asked what implicit threat and pressure Washington was considering towards Putin. He said Vance responded that "the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There, of course, military tools of leverage (too)."

Vance mentioned none of this in his speech to the conference, instead focusing on criticising the 27-nation EU's policy towards hate speech.

"The threat I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor," he said, adding that it was what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech - as well as immigration, which he said was "out of control" in Europe.

A Reuters reporter in one of the side rooms where more delegates could listen to Vance said people watched in stunned silence, with no applause.

EUROPEAN FEAR OF EXCLUSION FROM UKRAINE DEAL

The Kremlin had said earlier on Friday that it hoped the US would clarify Vance's remarks to the Wall Street Journal. "We have not heard such formulations before," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Vance's comments. "Just like with the tariffs, it will depend on how President Putin comes to the table," he told Fox Business Network.

"If we believe that taking the sanctions regime up to a maximum threshold level will help us achieve negotiating leverage - and as you know, no one understands negotiating leverage better than President Trump, so - that will be his decision, and Treasury will implement it."

Trump's phone call with Putin stoked fears among European governments that they might be frozen out of a settlement to end the Ukraine war that could wind up being too favourable to Russia and undermine European security as a whole.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated those concerns on Friday.

"A sham peace - over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans - would gain nothing," she said. "A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States."

Germany's defence minister said it was a mistake for Trump to take the bargaining chips off the table, namely Ukraine's wish for NATO membership and its objective to recover all territories taken by Russian forces since 2014.

Russia now holds about 20% of Ukraine nearly three years after launching a full-scale invasion, saying Kyiv's pursuit of NATO membership posed an existential threat. Ukraine and the West call Russia's action an imperialist land grab.

PRESSURE ON EUROPE

Vance also repeated Trump's demand that Europe do more to safeguard its own defence so Washington can focus on other regions, particularly the Indo-Pacific.

"In the future, we think Europe is going to have to take a bigger role in its own security," he said in a bilateral meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Vance was "absolutely right" about the need for Europe "stepping up" and doing more for its own defence. "We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more," Rutte said.

At the conference, several European leaders echoed his comments, saying Europe would step up its defence spending but also needed to discuss with Washington on a gradual phasing-out of its support.

As a senator, Vance expressed blunt scepticism about US support for Ukraine.

Speaking on a podcast in 2022, he said: "I don't really care what happens in Ukraine one way or the other."