It is a mas­sive con­crete sculp­tur­al com­po­si­tion set on an ele­va­tion by the high­way cross­ing the Karakum Desert. It is ded­i­cat­ed to Sovi­et sol­diers and local mili­tia who fought against the Bas­machi move­ment in the 1920s–1930s. The Bas­machi were armed groups oppos­ing the estab­lish­ment of Sovi­et pow­er in Cen­tral Asia. The mon­u­ment is exe­cut­ed in the mon­u­men­tal style typ­i­cal of the late Sovi­et peri­od: strict lines, lacon­ic forms, and a sym­bol­ic fig­ure of a fight­er hold­ing a weapon. It is vis­i­ble from afar against the back­drop of sand dunes and serves as a land­mark for trav­el­ers cross­ing the desert. The site is often used as a stop on tourist routes through the Karakum, espe­cial­ly on trips to the Dar­vaza gas crater. The mon­u­ment recalls the com­plex and con­tro­ver­sial his­to­ry of the region, the clash between the tra­di­tion­al nomadic way of life and the polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary changes of the 20th cen­tu­ry.