Those negotiations resulted in “The Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation,” signed in Paris in May 1997. The “Founding Act” set a large agenda of topics on which NATO and Russia would collaborate. It also created a “Permanent Joint Council” — NATO nations plus Russia — as a framework for continuing consultations. The work of the Council quickly became one of the important vehicles for the development of cooperative security relations in Europe. NATO-Russia cooperation had become a reality with the potential to overcome fears and prejudices on both sides.

NATO and Russia held extensive negotiations on the situation in Kosovo. On several occasions during the Kosovo crisis, high representatives of the NATO Allies and Russia met in extraordinary session. They could not agree on how to bring about a political solution to the conflict, although they agreed that a political solution should be based on autonomy for Kosovo, not independence. After the breakdown of negotiations between representatives of the Kosovar Albanians and the Belgrade government, the NATO Allies concluded that the government of President Milosevic had no intention of complying with UN Security Council Resolutions, nor of respecting agreements which had been reached, nor of engaging in genuine efforts to reach a political solution. There was therefore no alternative but to use force as a last resort.

Russia suspended its participation in the Permanent Joint Council following the Alliance's decision to intervene militarily in order to end the conflict in Kosovo. However, despite differences over the use of military force, NATO countries continued working closely with representatives of the Russian government in the context of diplomatic efforts to bring about an end to the conflict and a lasting political solution.

NATO and Russia's joint determination to work together on the diplomatic front, without allowing differences over the use of force to inhibit progress, played an instrumental role in moving the crisis over Kosovo closer to resolution. Russia's subsequent participation in the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) and the resumption of meetings of the Permanent Joint Council at Ambassadorial level in July 1999 also augured well for the future of NATO-Russia cooperation in the wider sphere.

In Florence, in May 2000, the foreign ministers of NATO nations and Russia met formally as the Permanent Joint Council for the first time since the start of the Kosovo air campaign.