Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin did everything but pull on his coveralls Friday as he courted the support of the agricultural sector in the run-up to parliamentary elections in December.


At the Congress of Russian Landholders, a coalition of political and trade organizations that promotes the interests of Russia's small farmers, Chernomyrdin told delegates just what they wanted to hear: "Land must belong to those who work on it, and to no one else," he said to loud applause.


The congress, co-sponsored by Chernomyrdin's political movement, Our Home Is Russia, seemed designed to lure the agricultural vote away from the Agrarian Party. Speaker after speaker lashed out at the Agrarians for their retrogressive policies.


The Agrarian faction managed to push their version of the Land Code, the basic law establishing property relations in Russia, through a first reading in the State Duma in July. The draft law was roundly criticized, both by the Communists who oppose all private ownership of land, and by liberal Russia's Choice which called it too conservative.


Chernomyrdin told the congress that the Agrarians' version "contains a conception of stagnation in land relations." "It is obvious that this attempt at a new collectivization runs counter to the interests of the majority of Russians," he said.


Plaudits for the premier increased noticeably after he took his seat in the congress's third hour. Support also came from unexpected sources.


Yury Chernychenko, chairman of the Peasants' Party, is included in the federal list of Yegor Gaidar's bloc, Russia's Democratic Choice -- another rival to Our Home. But on Friday Chernychenko called on the prime minister to become a "great government reformer" in agricultural policy.


"Now there is a unique opportunity for someone to lead the reforms and enter history. We have only one man sufficiently powerful, capable and willing to do this. As you guessed, it is the Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin," Chernychenko said.