After serving as a Soviet adviser in North Korea, Chumakov was a member of the Russian military contingent in Transnistria.

His father, a Gosbank inspector, served with the Red Army and survived the war, reaching the rank of Senior Lieutenant.

[4] Chumakov then went to Odessa, where his uncle was the local military commissar, hoping to enter a nautical school, but was rejected because he was too young.

His uncle recommended that he instead attend the Odessa Higher Combined Arms Command School, and arranged a birth certificate increasing Chumakov's age by one year.

[6] Chumakov returned to Belarus in August of that year to become the Belorussian Military District's chief of staff and first deputy commander.

In June 1991 he was sent as an advisor to North Korea, and served with the Russian military contingent in Transnistria until July 1995.

In December of that year, Chumakov became Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus and First Deputy Minister of Defence.

[7] Along with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Yermoshin and the Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives, Chumakov made up a group of ethnic Russians in key Belarusian government positions.