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| 1999, March 24–June 10 |
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| NATO conducted a heavy bombing campaign against Pres. Slobodan Milosevic's forces in Yugoslavia (See 1999, March 24–June 3). As refugees fled into neighboring Macedonia and Albania, Russian relations with NATO and the United States cooled considerably. Because of Russia's support for the Yugoslav government with shipments of food and supplies, NATO tried with little success to keep Russian influence out of the subsequent peace settlement signed on June 3 in Kosovo. | 1 |
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| May 13–15 |
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| The Duma attempted to impeach Pres. Boris Yeltsin on five charges, but the impeachment was quickly abandoned; consensus held that most of the complaints brought against Yeltsin were not legitimated offenses that could be used for impeachment. The five charges that stood briefly against him were for provoking the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, using force to dissolve the Parliament in 1993, initiating the bloody war with Chechnya in 1994, ruining the Russian military, and causing the severe recession through ill-conceived economic policy. | 2 |
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| May 19 |
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| Prime Minister Primakov was stripped of his position by Pres. Yeltsin and replaced with Sergei Stepashin. The Stepashin government lasted only a few weeks; on Aug. 9 Yeltsin again shuffled legislative leaders by naming former KGB agent Vladimir Putin as the premier. Many saw Putin as Yeltsin's hand-picked successor to power, especially in light of Yeltsin's failing health and the timing involved: an election was scheduled for the spring of 2001. | 3 |
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| Aug. 7–Dec. 26 |
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| Russia used military force to subdue uprisings of Islamic rebels in Dagestan. As violence spread, neighboring Chechnya experienced serious conflicts, and Russia launched a full-scale assault. Several terrorist bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities provoked the attack. Fighting had resumed three years after the end of the bloody Chechen-Russian War (1994-1996). | 4 |
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| Nov. 28 |
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| Russian troops surrounded Grozny, Chechnya's capital, pushing some 215,000 Chechen refugees into nearby Ingushetia. | 5 |
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| Dec. 6 |
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| The Russian government issued an ultimatum that stated that all 40,000 people still inhabiting Grozny must evacuate the city. Because Western nations condemned Russia's harsh tactics in Chechnya, the terms of the ultimatum were eased somewhat. | 6 |
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| Dec. 19 |
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| The pro-government Unity Party won a strong majority in Russia's parliamentary elections. | 7 |
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| Dec. 31 |
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| Claiming political but not health considerations, Pres. Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation with six months remaining in his term. After having served as Russia's leader since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yeltsin named Premier Vladimir Putin to be his successor. | 8 |
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