‘Hungary Not 51st State’: Budapest’s Top Diplomat Fires Back at US About Sweden's NATO Bid

NEW YORK CITY (RIA Novosti) - Hungary is a sovereign nation and does not care about US instructions on how to proceed with the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership bid, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RIA Novosti.

On Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned that the US "patience" can’t be unlimited as it relates to advancing Sweden’s NATO accession.

"First of all, I want to make clear that everyone has to understand that Hungary is a sovereign country. And it's not only that everybody has to understand but everybody has to respect it. Regardless of whether it is a superpower of the East or superpower of the West or any other countries, they have to respect that Hungary is a country and the Hungarian parliament is a sovereign entity. And we will never be ready to act according to instructions coming from anywhere in the world. Never ever," Szijjarto said.

Such statements are "absolutely unnecessary, and absolutely showing disrespect towards Hungary," the minister stressed.

"We never criticize decisions of the United States. We never criticize decisions of the Congress. We never interfere with what they put on the agenda or what they don't. And this is the expectation of ours, towards others as well. So we don't care to be honest of such kind of instructions. Because we are not the 51st state, but a very sovereign country," he added.