The archipelago includes two large and two small islands covered with tundra vegetation, shingle and ice.

[4] They regularly support significant populations of brent geese, king eiders, ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, ivory and glaucous gulls, arctic terns, long-tailed and arctic jaegers, and snow buntings.

[5] These islands were named after Izvestiya Tsentral'nogo Ispolnitel'nogo Komiteta, which was the full title of the newspaper Izvestia.

In September 2016 the weather station was encircled by about 10 adult polar bears as well as cubs, making it dangerous for scientists to exit.

A nearby ship was able to deliver dogs and flares to the island, allowing the scientists, who had been trapped for two weeks, to scare off the bears.