Yeltsin Issues Final Appeal for Support : Russia: In TV address on eve of referendum, he calls for burial of old political system, ‘breakthrough’ to future. But foe is poised to fight constitutional change.

MOSCOW — Placing the country’s and his own fate in ordinary Russians’ hands, President Boris N. Yeltsin on Saturday asked his people to back him in a “peaceful breakthrough to the future” to bury forever the political system left by the Soviet Union.

In a televised address on the eve of today’s nationwide referendum, a firm and visibly self-assured Yeltsin told his country that “my possibilities for carrying out the course of reform wholly and fully depend on how you vote April 25.”

“Your votes for the president will be considered also as your will to adopt a new constitution,” Yeltsin emphasized.

He has already vowed an undisclosed array of “firm, tough measures” if he wins today.

The day before his televised appeal, Yeltsin unveiled the constitution that has become his ideal for Russia--a document mandating a stronger executive branch; a two-chamber, U.S.-style legislature; private ownership of land, and firm guarantees of civil liberties.

A vote in his favor, Yeltsin said Saturday evening, will be “the chance to reinforce our state by a peaceful, legal way.”

But it will hardly be that easy. In newspaper and television interviews Saturday, Yeltsin’s archfoe, Parliament Chairman Ruslan I. Khasbulatov, made it clear he will furiously oppose any move by Yeltsin that he deems counter to Russia’s existing Soviet-era constitution.

“If a quarter of the population votes for him and he starts herding the other three-quarters toward a ‘happy future,’ perhaps by force, resorting to repression--if he then starts attacking the constitution . . . then I can only say one thing: He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind,” Khasbulatov warned.

A clear, knockout victory in today’s referendum, in which 105.5 million Russians are eligible to vote on four separate ballot questions, is expected by almost no one. Whatever the outcome, Russia’s political wrangles seem certain to drag on.

Yeltsin’s 19-minute taped address, in which he looked more rested than in past weeks but frequently wheezed as he spoke, contained his last pitch to disparate voting groups, from Russia’s army and youth to retirees living on government pensions.

He announced that land will again be given to honorably discharged officers, as in czarist times, promised anti-inflationary measures to safeguard each Russian’s paycheck and assured workers they will be looked after if bankrupt state-run factories are shut down.

“If we do everything that has been thought of, the reform will start to bring real fruits to the citizens of Russia, and soon,” Yeltsin promised.

He assured his people that the “shock period” of reform that transformed millions of them into virtual paupers is now behind them.

Yeltsin said the entire government structure, still dating in large part from Soviet Communist days, is in need of “radical reform,” starting with his personal nemesis, the conservative-dominated Congress of People’s Deputies, which Khasbulatov chairs.

“Russia and Russians don’t need a thousand-member Congress, which sits when it wants and as long as it wants, and which has the right to decide any issue,” Yeltsin said.

Instead, he endorsed a smaller, bicameral legislature made up of full-time lawmakers and a “presidential republic” where he would be the uncontested head of the executive branch.

Yeltsin said he will pay particular attention to how citizens vote on whether they have confidence in him, implying that he will ignore a second, separate ballot question--whether they endorse the social and economic policies he has pursued.

If voters approve, Yeltsin said, he will do “everything” so that early legislative elections take place next fall, implying he could disband the Congress.

But in another passage of his speech, he assured citizens that no matter what the results of the referendum, he will act in accordance with “constitutionality.” So how Yeltsin intends to enact a new constitution is a mystery, since the Congress will hardly sign its own death warrant.

Members of Yeltsin’s entourage have said the summoning of a national constituent assembly to adopt such a document has been studied. Yeltsin’s chief of staff, Sergei A. Filatov, said Friday that if Yeltsin wins the referendum, he will address the people on how a new constitution should be put in place.

In his appearance on live television earlier in the day, a tough-talking Khasbulatov warned against attempts to bypass Congress. He dismissed in advance the significance of the referendum, saying that Wednesday’s decision by the Constitutional Court reducing the margin of victory Yeltsin needs on the confidence question makes the exercise little more than an opinion poll.

The court also ruled, however, that an affirmative vote equal to a majority of all registered voters is needed to approve the questions that would force Yeltsin or the deputies into early elections, since those are constitutional issues. Developing that logic, Khasbulatov said that if Yeltsin does not get at least 53 million votes--half of all Russia’s eligible voters--he has no right to change Russia’s constitution.

Such an outpouring of popular support for the president is considered almost impossible. Khasbulatov estimated that Yeltsin’s backers number “30 million, no more.”

Taking his last swipes in what has proven to be a nasty campaign filled with charges ranging from official corruption to Communist revanchism, Khasbulatov accused Yeltsin’s entourage of drafting decrees suspending Congress, introducing direct presidential rule, dismissing Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi, disbanding the Constitutional Court and convening a constituent assembly.

Khasbulatov also spoke of Yeltsin as a hybrid between dictator Josef Stalin and a weak leader who is the plaything of his entourage.

“A sort of parody of the cult of personality is forming. It turned out that in a country of 150 million people, there is no alternative to the president,” Khasbulatov said.

“And who says so? The president himself. There’s a real paragon of modesty for you.”

In his TV address, Yeltsin said he has faith that most Russians will side with him. Tacitly showing he is worried about a low turnout, he urged people to go to the polls, warning that “if you stay home, the danger of falsification and deception will grow.”

“Now, dear Russians, it’s your turn to speak,” Yeltsin said.