On 16 April 2001, he was the appointed head of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

On 12 July of that year, he replaced General Nikolay Makarov as the commander of the military district.

[4] The rank of General of the Army conferred upon Yefremov by order of President Vladimir Putin on 22 February 2004.

He commanded the 2005 Moscow Victory Day Parade held on Red Square in honor of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a jubilee parade which was held in the presence of world leaders such as U.S. President George W. Bush, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

By presidential decree on 6 June 2005, he was appointed head of the Military Academy of the General Staff.