He left some of the Cossacks on his way in order to set up the forts in Krasnovodsk and Alexandrovsk.
In the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the University continued working in evacuation (at first in Armavir, then in Jambul, Orjonikidze, Baku, Krasnovodsk, Kyzylorda).
The length of the canal was to be more than 1200 kilometers, beginning from Takhiatash, a town/city in Uzbekistan, then extended 10 km from the town of Nukus to Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Coast of Turkmenistan.