David Edgari Tonoyan (Armenian:Դավիթ Էդգարի Տոնոյան; born 27 December 1967) is anArmenian political figure and formerDefence Minister of Armenia, in office from 2018 to 2020.

David Tonoyan
Դավիթ Տոնոյան
Tonoyan in 2016
Minister of Defence
In office 10 May 2018[1] – 20 November 2020
President	Armen Sarkissian
Prime Minister	Nikol Pashinyan
Preceded by	Vigen Sargsyan
Succeeded by	Vagharshak Harutiunyan
Minister of Emergency Situations of Armenia
In office 6 February 2017 – 10 May 2018
President	Serzh Sargsyan Armen Sarkissian
Prime Minister	Karen Karapetyan
Preceded by	Armen Yeritsyan
Succeeded by	Hrachya Rostomyan
Personal details
Born	(1967-12-27)27 December 1967 (age 57) Ust-Kamenogorsk,Kazakh SSR,Soviet Union
Political party	Independent
Children	2

David Tonoyan was born on 27 December 1967 in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk (nowOskemen,Kazakhstan), in theEast Kazakhstan Region of theKazakh SSR. He is the grandson of Hovhannes Hakobov, a veteran of theRed Army who took part in theSecond World War.^[2] In 1986, he joined theSoviet Armed Forces'sTranscaucasian Military District. He moved to Yerevan to attendYerevan State University, which he graduated from in 1991.^[3] He entered theArmed Forces of Armenia in 1992.^[3] In 1997, he graduated from theMilitary University of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.^[3] Between 1998 and 2007, Tonoyan held various positions atNATO’s headquarters in Brussels, serving as the Armenian Representative to NATO for three years. In 2007, Tonoyan returned to Armenia to head the departments on international military cooperation and defence policy in the Ministry of Defence.

From 2010 to 2017, Tonoyan served as First Deputy Minister of Defence of Armenia, serving underSeyran Ohanyan andVigen Sargsyan. On 6 February 2017, he was appointedMinister of Emergency Situations.^[4]

Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan appointed Tonoyan as defence minister on 11 May 2018, three days after Pashinyan took office.^[5]

In late August 2020, Tonoyan proposed the creation of a nationalmilitia in light of theJuly 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes, in order to prepare the society to threats of military nature.^[6] The Ministry of Defence under his leadership introduced a draft law into theNational Assembly^[7] creating the militia, which would be open to both men and women and people up to the age of 70, as well as would be organized under local governments, potentially including up to 100,000 members.^[8]

In March 2019, at a gathering of Armenian community representatives in New York, Tonoyan declared that "I, as the Defence Minister, say that the option of return of ‘territories for peace’ will no longer exist, and I have re-formulated it into ’new territories in the event of a new war’",^[9] criticizing theMadrid Principles which envisioned the peaceful return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control. This statement, later popularized as "new war for new territories", was widely criticized and regarded as one of the provocations that ruled out negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh^[10] and later causedSecond Nagorno-Karabakh war,^[11][12] which resulted in Azerbaijan taking control of theterritories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh,Shusha,Hadrut region,Madagiz,Talish and other parts of the formerNKAO.

After the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement was signed, he denied rumors he sold arms to pro-Turkish militants inSyria via a private company, allegations of which appeared in the Armenian media. Related accusations that were also denied was the claim that it turned down an offer to purchase body armor jackets from Russia as well as the claim that Tonoyan was in theMaldives to attend a relative’s birthday party when the war started.^[13]

On 20 November 2020 he tendered his resignation.^[14] In his farewell address, he apologized to those who lost loved ones during the war.^[15]

On 30 September 2021, Tonoyan was arrested by theNational Security Service of Armenia and accused of fraud and embezzlement causing nearly 2.3 billion Armenian drams ($4.7 million) worth of damage to the state together with arms dealer Davit Galstyan.^[16]

He is currently married and has two children.^[17][18] He is fluent inRussian,English, andFrench. He is a master of sports injudo.^{[citation needed]}

• Order "For Services to the Fatherland"^{[citation needed]}
• Medal "For Meritorious Service"^{[citation needed]}
• Vazgen Sargsyan Medal^{[citation needed]}
• Andranik Ozanyan Medal^{[citation needed]}