At several points in his speech, Vance minimised the risk of political interference by Russia, taking a similar stance to US President Donald Trump, who has railed against claims by US intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election.

“For years, we’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values, everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship, is billed as a defence of democracy,” Vance told the crowd.

“Yet when we see European courts cancelling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard,” he said.

The future of Ukraine was at the top of the agenda in Munich after a phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week where they pledged to work together to end the conflict but Vance did not bring it up.

Vance instead accused Brussels for shutting down social media over hateful content, attacked Germany for what he described as raids against its own citizens for posting anti-feminist comments, criticised Sweden for convicting a Christian activist and railed against the UK for backsliding on religious rights.

“Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” Vance said, while also criticising former US President Joe Biden’s administration for censorship of social media companies.