[1] He was also the first Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) from April 2003 to June 2004.
[5] In 1988, he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School after four years,[5] and served in Ukraine in a fighter regiment of the Soviet Air Forces.
On 24 June 1998,[5] he graduated from the Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy (which he was enrolled on 8 September 1995[5]) with a gold medal.
On 1 January 2004, the Joint Headquarters of the CSTO began operating in Moscow on the basis of the Russian General Staff.
[7][8] In 2006, he was again appointed Chief of the General Staff, a position he held up until early 2014, when he was succeeded by Zarif Sharifzoda.