KIEV, Oct. 26 – A senior opposition lawmaker on Wednesday attacked the government for last week’s signing of a free trade agreement with Russia and other CIS nations that he says contains too many trade restrictions.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov surprised many by signing the agreement in St. Petersburg on Tuesday even though Ukraine had failed to persuade Russia to lift most of the restrictions.

Mykola Tomenko, a deputy speaker of Parliament and a senior member of Batkivshchyna, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s opposition party, said the agreement was a waste of time.

“Actually, what the prime minister has signed has nothing to do with the free market because the free trade agreement must have no exclusions and restrictions,” Tomenko said in an interview with Channel 5 television. “If we cannot sell to Russia our main commodities and cannot have normal relations in natural gas sector, then such agreement is not needed.”

There were fears raised in Ukraine by opposition figures, including by former President Viktor Yushchenko, that the agreement with Russia and other CIS nations may be signaling a change in the government’s foreign policy away from seeking closer cooperation with the European Union.

Ukraine has been negotiating a free trade deal with the EU for at least four years now and was expected to sign the deal before the end of the year.

However, responding to growing pressure from the Ukrainian authorities on opposition figures EU officials last week have postponed a meeting with Yanukovych, angering the Ukrainian president.

This prompted speculations that Ukraine has decided to accelerate the talks with Russia in response to criticism from the EU, even as the expense of signing the agreement that contains trade restrictions.

Ukraine signed the free trade agreement with Russia on Tuesday, a day after EU leaders had postponed a meeting with Yanukovych in Brussels, citing concerns with democracy in Ukraine.

Yanukovych said Saturday the free trade agreement with Russia was not aimed against its European integration, adding the integration will continue.

The EU leaders expressed concerns over the trial of opposition politicians in Ukraine, including Tymoshenko, who was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for negotiating a controversial natural gas deal with Russia.

Yushchenko, who pursued a pro-Western course while in office in 2005-2009, said the free trade agreement with Russia underscored a turnaround in the country’s foreign policy away from seeking integration with Europe.

Azarov on praised the agreement with Russia by suggesting Ukraine has become part of an alternative free trade area covering 260 million people, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and other countries.

But he also said his government will continue talks with the EU in order to sign the free trade agreement before the end of the year and get access to markers covering 500 million people.

Ukraine has been expecting the free trade deal with Russia and other CIS countries will help to boost economic growth at 2 extra percentage points in 2012, earning Ukraine an extra 9.5 billion hryvnias next year.

Azarov earlier admitted the free trade agreement with Russia has certain restrictions by excluding sugar, oil and gas from the deal indefinitely, illustrating that Ukraine has failed to persuade Russia to lift restrictions in place for at least 15 years. (tl/ez)