Vance says Russia was 'asking for too much' in its initial Ukraine peace offer

But the Republican vice president, citing Russia’s unwillingness on that point, said the U.S. would like to move past that and have the Russian and Ukrainian leaders sit down directly to negotiate a long-term settlement that would end the fighting. “What the Russians have said is, ‘A 30-day ceasefire is not in our strategic interests.’ So we’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with the 30-day ceasefire and more on the, what would a long-term settlement look like,” Vance said. He said the Trump administration felt the inspection and enforcement provisions in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under Democratic President Barack Obama were “incredibly weak” and “allowed Iran to sort of stay on this glide path toward a nuclear weapon if they flip the switch and press go.”