Former Russian Prime Ministers Viktor Chernomyrdin and Sergei Kiriyenko made statements Saturday to support current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's presidential race in 2000.

"My bloc may throw its support behind Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's bid for the presidency," said Chernomyrdin, leader of Our Home Is Russia (NDR).

"I have a positive attitude toward Putin's running for presidency. We can see how he works, and it is his right as a citizen to make such a decision. In what way is he worse than other possible candidates?" he said.

"Naturally, a final decision will be made after the parliamentary elections," he added.

On the same day, another former prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko, leader of the Union of Rightist Forces, stated that his electoral bloc will also back Putin.

The Union "will definitely put a presidential candidate forward and it could well be Putin," Kiriyenko told a press conference in the city of Khabarovsk Saturday.

"This decision will be made in January," he said. Putin has realistic chances of winning the presidential polls in 2000, and it is "not a question of personality, but of the system itself," Kiriyenko said. (Xinhua)