In 1982 he entered the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School (now the Odesa Military Academy).

In 1988, he returned to the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, where he became the head of a unit in the 409th Motorized Rifle Regiment.

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, he worked as an assistant to the military commissar of the Beylagan District, and later in various positions in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

[1] Akbarov was a participant in the suppression of the rebellion of the OPON unit under the leadership of Rovshan Javadov in March 1995.

[8] There were also a number of rumours about Sadikov and Akbarov circulating on social media, claiming that they had collaborated with the Armenian Armed Forces and were responsible for non-combat deaths in the army.