The European Union differs from the USSR, disagreeing with the assessments of its Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday.

Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the European Union was not like the Soviet union.

“As I sit around that table in the European Union there are countries there who used to be part of the Soviet Union, they are now democratic countries and I can tell you that the two organizations are not the same,” Reuters reported quoting May. 

Hunts’ words provoked outrage in Europe, especially among some members of the Eastern European bloc, who gained complete independence only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Meanwhile, Brexit supporters, who say that the EU will eventually collapse under its own weight, agreed with him.