His father was Ilya Nikolaevich Isakov, a participant in the Great Patriotic War.

Since December 1994 he served as head of the department of logistics and technical support at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.

[3] By decree of the President of the Russian Federation issued on February 22, 2002, he was awarded the military rank of army general.

A number of publications suggested that the sudden resignation was due to Isakov's disagreement with the major reform of the armed forces and, in particular, the rear services, launched by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Serdyukov.

He is the chairman of the public fund named after Hero of Russia, Army General Viktor Dubynin.