The initiative to create a monument to soldiers-internationalists who died in Afghanistan belonged to the Minsk club of reserve soldiers "Memory", the Association of family members of soldiers who died in Afghanistan, "Memory and Duty". A contest for the best design of the monument was announced. Pavlov's project was acknowledged the best among nine projects of Belarusian sculptors-participants of the contest who proposed to erect the monument on the island in a bend of the river Svisloch near Troitskiy suburb.