Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the U.S. judge overseeing a debt dispute with creditors is infringing on the nation’s sovereignty and absolving intermediaries of their responsibilities.

Fernandez said Citigroup Inc.’s local unit should comply with local laws since it’s considered an Argentine company after the bank sought guidance from U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa on whether to distribute debt payments to bondholders. The judge’s rulings make no sense, she said.

“This municipal judge wants to run over the sovereignty of a country and has put us in a legal limbo,” Fernandez said in a nationwide address.

Argentina defaulted on July 30 after Griesa blocked a $539 million debt payment since the nation didn’t also set aside funds to pay holdout creditors from its 2001 economic crisis $1.5 billion at the same time. Fernandez’s government insists that it paid and can’t be considered to be in default. The funds remain deposited at a local account of trustee Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Judge Griesa allowed a one-time payment on some of the restructured debt issued under local law on Aug. 1 after Citigroup, Euroclear SA and Clearstream Banking SA sought guidance from him to not violate his orders. Griesa called another hearing tomorrow at 3 p.m. in New York to discuss advertisements published by the government in newspapers claiming they have fulfilled with their obligations by depositing the funds.

Argentina filed an application today to start proceedings against the U.S. at the International Court of Justice saying decisions in U.S. courts in the debt case have violated its sovereignty. Fernandez said she hopes the U.S. accepts the jurisdiction.