After joining the Red Army at the end of the 1920s, Rusakov became a junior officer and served in the Soviet Far East before graduating from the Frunze Military Academy after Operation Barbarossa.

Born on 30 December 1909 in Cheplyaev, Smolensk Governorate, Rusakov joined the Red Army and entered the Vladivostok Infantry School on 15 September 1929.

Transferred to the Nikolayevsk-on-Amur Fortified Region of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army in June 1935, Rusakov became commander of the 8th Separate Machine Gun Company and acting chief of staff of the right-bank sector.

On the night of 20 August, the division crossed the river and captured a bridgehead on the right bank, fighting in a counterattack on the left flank of the German forces in Stalingrad.

[1] Rusakov and the 14th Guards fought in Operation Little Saturn in the second half of December, during which the division captured Bokovskaya and Morozovsk, cutting off rail access to Stalingrad, then advanced towards Voroshilovgrad.

By 15 April, the division was relocated to the Belyi Kholodets area to take up defensive positions as a result of the German counteroffensive in the Third Battle of Kharkov.

As part of the 27th Guards Rifle Corps of the 57th Army, the division was one of the first to cross the Dnieper north of Verkhnedneprovsk and captured a bridgehead on the right bank.

On the next day, Rusakov met his 69th Division commander Major General Emil F. Reinhardt, in the first official link-up ceremony.