According to the research done by Regional correspondents of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety Nakhchivan, with exclusion of Nakhchivan city the internet connection is very slow in all regions of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan. Despite this, the websites of government newspapers open normally and the internet connection is normal in government offices. This gives us grounds to say that there is interference in the internet and the access to "undesirable" sites is generally restricted.
IRFS notes that these problems also affect the work of the office of IRFS Nakhchivan's regional correspondents.
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Communication and Information Technology Ministry Internet Department Head Vugar Rasulov told IRFS that the problems didn't have any relation to them. "We don't discriminate against customers; the restriction of the sites is not within our power. We purchase internet from Baku, and we don't know where the problem comes from," he said.