In 1990, he graduated from the Vologda Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Heat and Gas Supply and Ventilation.
The same year, he began working at the Murmansk TEZ, where he went from a steam and gas turbine equipment repairman to a centralized repair shop to deputy chief engineer and deputy technical director.
In 2006, he received additional professional training in the program “Management of the financial and economic activity of an enterprise and organization” at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Advanced Studies in St. Petersburg.
On 2 December 2015, the board of directors of TGK-14 satisfied Kulakov's statement of decision in connection with his transfer to another job.
[3] After another acting Governor Aleksandr Osipov took office, he was eventually dismissed as First Deputy of Zabaykalsky Krai on 7 December 2018.