On 11 June 2015, Kartapolov was promoted to colonel general. On 10 November 2015, Kartapolov was appointed commander of the Western Military District. On 23 November 2015, he was presented by the Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoygu, to the leadership of the Western Military District and he was awarded the standard of the commander of the district. From 19 December 2016 to March 2017, Kartapolov was the commander of the Russian group of forces in Syria. During his command after an operation involving Russian aviation and Russian Special Operations Forces on 2 March 2017, Palmyra was returned to the control of the Syrian government for the second time.