U.S.-Russia Relations April-June 1999 April 14, 1999: Yeltsin appoints Viktor Chernomyrdin as his personal emissary to Yugoslavia. April 18, 1999: In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov describes NATO's military operations against Yugoslavia as a violation of the 1997 Russia-NATO Founding Act. April 19, 1999: In a statement, the Russian Foreign ...