YEREVAN. – Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s resignation was a surprise; even Sargsyan did not know about the existence of his letter of resignation, Zhoghovurd daily reported. 

“Four days ago, however, Zhoghovurd received information that Sargsyan had written a letter of resignation, and that he is preparing to leave Armenia. In all probability, he will be appointed World Bank Vice President.

“We had called [by telephone] the PM’s spokesperson Harutyun Berberyan to verify the information. [But] Berberyan had denied [this information] claiming that Sargsyan would not resign.        

“Zhoghovurd has learned that [President] Serzh Sargsyan will make significant changes to the state system. With this step he ‘checkmated’ the ‘magnificent four’ [i.e., the four non-ruling-coalition parliamentary factions: Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Heritage]. They were fighting against Tigran Sargsyan, and, now, it is unclear who they will fight against,” Zhoghovurd wrote.