Communist Party of Ukraine leader Petro Symonenko says the party has collected over 1 million signatures to hold a referendum on the Ukrainian accession to the Customs Union.

"The Communist Party has collected over 1 million signatures for this referendum; all the necessary signatures will be collected," he said at the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.

He said "the U.S. political interests" were behind the appeals for signing the association agreement with the European Union.

These interests "fully coincide with the economic interests of Europe, which wants Ukraine to supply resources" and a cheap labor force, he said.

There are plans to transform Ukraine into a military territory, a buffer zone pitted against Russia, Symonenko said.