1 / 12

On August 1, the sitting of the NA Inquiry Committee for Studying the Circumstances of the Hostilities Unleashed on September 27, 2020 took place.

The Committee Chair Andranik Kocharyan informed that David Tonoyan expressed wish before submitting his mediation to the court the issue to be discussed in the Inquiry Committee in other format, that is discussion to be held at the presence of the Prime Minister of the republic live, which the Committee refused, stemming from its work order. After Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivering speeches David Tonoyan expressed wish to come to the Committee and answered to the questions of the Committee, as there is public demand.

“It has been more than a year that the Committee has done works, has studied numerous orders and materials. Issues were revised related to every invitee, and its clarifications will enrich the episodes concerning the society and the state,” the Committee Chair clarified. Andranik Kocharyan added that the Court met David Tonoyan’s mediation, and regarding the document of July 10, 2023, informed the Committee Chair that the Court let David Tonoyan’s participation in the Committee works on August 1 and 2.

Andranik Kocharyan expressed regret that the representatives of the NA opposition factions don’t take part in the Committee works, though David Tonoyan also applied for that.

Andranik Kocharyan informed that after the end of the Committee works a report will be submitted to the parliament. The former Minister of Defense David Tonoyan thanked the NA Inquiry Committee and the Court for the mediation and meeting it. David Tonoyan repeated the proposal that the opposition will take part in the sitting of the NA Inquiry Committee behind closed doors. The presence of at least two opposition forces – the ARF and the RPA in this sitting, as they are parties functioning in the political field of the Republic of Armenia, and they have institutional memory,” David Tonoyan said and noted that the information given by him is important in making further decisions on defense and security of the mentioned forces.

“Once again I propose that the opposition parties attend the work of the Inquiry Committee, otherwise, I would ask the representatives of that party not to speak publicly about my activities,” David Tonoyan mentioned.

The former Head of the defense system informed that on October 21-29, 2020 within the framework of the military operations, was in Meghri by the Prime Minister’s assignment. David Tonoyan noted that he informed that about the threatening situation, but the day of the start of the military operations was not known to anyone. According to him, within the framework of his authorities he implemented the defensive policy of the country. The former Minister of Defense also informed as Head of the Ministry of Defense, the continuously revised plan of the RA Armed Forces and the package of documents stemming from it have been the main directing documents of the activities.”

Regarding the news on the start of war, David Tonoyan mentioned that he was sent to the RF for military exercises on September 25, 2020. He was sent to the EU and the NATO member country for organization of armament and military technique supplies until evening on September 25-27 of the same year.

“In the evening of September 26, before the beginning of war, I have been on the plane, I was continuing my business trip to the Central Asian country with a landing, where people taking part in the negotiations of obtaining armament and military technique should be taken within the framework of the business trip of the CSTO member country. At the moment of landing, in the morning of September 27, when there was an opportunity to turn on the mobiles, I was informed about the situation by the Chief of the General Staff, after which I had conversation also with the Prime Minister. Taking into consideration “the flight situations” during the Covid period, within 3 hours an opportunity was created to get a plane and come back to the Republic of Armenia (RA),” David Tonoyan informed and added that while returning to our country many obstacles occurred, and he landed in Georgia.

David Tonoyan preferred to speak about the problems of returning to the RA at the sitting of the Inquiry Committee behind closed doors and added that in the morning (at 04:00) on September 28, he was in Yerevan, after which he got permission from the Prime Minister of the country and left for the venue of the military operations.

“After the return to Armenia I held a consultation, relevant assignments were given, I listened to the reports, after which I passed to the fulfilment of my duties, according to the RA Prime Minister’s assignment,” David Tonoyan said.

He noted that in terms of fighting a defensive battle, having defensive posture the readiness of the Armed Forces was sufficient. David Tonoyan also documented that correlation on fighters and military-air aspect between Armenia and Azerbaijan was 0 by Armenia. “We did not have at all fighter, anti-air defense aviation,” he mentioned.

Regarding the MOB resources, David Tonoyan did not consider realistic the tactics that was carried out. In response to the question by whose proposal and on what substantiations David Tonoyan made a decision to decrease the military units of the first army corps being a main reserve of the RA Armed Forces, David Tonoyan answered that he will reflect upon the issue at the sitting behind closed doors, and that at the expense of those reserve decreased units, more than dozens of units of special importance were formed in different corps. “I agreed with that decision, as I believed that the formation of sub-units of special importance and the formation of other special sub-units are much more important, than the sub-units presented on the paper,” David Tonoyan said. He drew the attention to the fact that the engagement of Turkey was carried out not in the direction of Nakhijevanm not in the direction of the border of Armenia, but on the Artsakh war scene, “We did not make such calculation, it was incomplete, we did not make calculations that the Armed Forces of Turkey can immediately appear only 45km, 25km far from the Artsakh war scene, making flights,” the former Minister stated. According to him, it is urgent to empower the Prime Minister of the Commander-in-Chief also in peaceful conditions.

According to David Tonoyan, his stay in Meghri in October 2020 had a serious impact on both the population and the units of the RA Armed Forces dealing with problems on the frontline. “There are factual and video data that prove that the units of the armed forces acted quite successfully in that direction, neutralizing the enemy,” the former Minister of Defense underlined.

Touching upon the question of what position Davit Galstyan held in the Ministry of Defense in September 2020, the rapporteur noted that the latter was not his advisor, but he was the person who had the opportunities, skills and abilities to organize the supply of weapons, which he carried out.

In response to another question, David Tonoyan informed that during the 44-day war, the Colonel-General Movses Hakobyan served as the Head of the Military Inspection.

The rapporteur also spoke about the justification of the acquisition of SU-30s and underscored that the Armed Forces did not have the ability to hit the enemy’s means and infrastructures with long-range precision-guided missiles.

Davit Sanasaryan inquired whether the former Minister of Defense analyzed after the war whether what was achieved met our needs, or whether there was something that should have been achieved, and it was found out during the war that there is actually a lot of demand for it, but it’s too late to obtain it.

David Tonoyan considered it appropriate to answer the question during the sitting behind closed doors, saying that he can present very serious justifications at the expert level.

“On the very first day of the war, why weren’t planned missile strikes with Iskander, Elbrus and Tochka type operational tactical missiles against the combat planes and drones stationed at the enemy’s airfields, preventing their use by the enemy in advance?” the next question of the Committee was this.

“It would probably be right for the servicemen to answer your question about the conduct of operations, but I think that the answer should be formulated like this. When they were able, when they had the opportunities, in what format they were allowed, from where they allowed, it is about geography, it was implemented. Sooner or later, the command decides,” David Tonoyan said.

Concerning another issue, the Former Minister stated that there was a problem of the saturation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), there was some production, but in terms of quality and quantity, the Armenian side conceded. In this context, David Tonoyan also said that in terms of many types of weapons, our capabilities were limited to conduct that type of war. According to him, no one can deny it.

Referring to the weapons used during the military operations and their effectiveness, David Tonoyan mentioned that he cannot give an assessment and statistics regarding the effectiveness.

There was also talk about stopping the military mobilization on the fourth day of the 44-day war, which the former Minister of Defense denied.

“It is an obvious lie, there was no such thing to stop the recruitment of troops. Replenishment was carried out within 44 days, and even after that. Official mobilization has never stopped. How can it be like that, if our Armed Forces had almost doubled,” David Tonoyan said and noted that during the 44-day war, military recruitment issues were problematic.

The next question addressed to David Tonoyan referred to the activity of counter-intelligence bodies in the RA Armed Forces before and during the war. He noticed that during his term of office, the Ministry of Defense and the National Security Service cooperated at a high level, a communication format for coordination of communication with the enemy country and neutralization of threats was established through the heads of the National Security Service. The former Head of the Ministry of Defense stated that his assessments about agency networks may look like speculation, so he cannot give any assessment on that issue.

“In the period before the war, when the F-16s were deployed in Ganja, both I and the General Staff understood that this was not done for training purposes at all. When every day, almost 4 planes were in the air for 8 hours a day, 45km, 25 km were approaching the border and there were even such approaches that forced the Air Defense Forces to join, our concerns increased. When those fighter jets were rotated, it showed that there was a serious impulse to start military operations,” the former Minister of Defense said.

In addition to the joint questionnaire, the participants of the sitting inquired from David Tonoyan about the meetings he had with the RF Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu in the pre-war period, his admonitions not to provoke the situation, spreading panic among MOB resources during the war, the July battles, the problems of body armor and helmets during the 44-day war, the meetings with the ambassadors of the CSTO and NATO member states aimed at neutralizing Turkey’s involvement in the Artsakh war.

Turning to the question of how David Tonoyan assesses the RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as the Commander-in-Chief, the former Minister said that he cannot assess the Prime Minister’s actions, he was Nikol Pashinyan’s subordinate, so that step would not be appropriate.

“The task of the Ministry of Defense was to ensure that the army fights and wins. My biggest responsibility was that I could not stop the 44-day war, my military-diplomatic skills, knowledge and connections were not enough to prevent the start of the war,” David Tonoyan said and stated that he and his subordinates did not receive an order to cede from the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: “There were arguments, but there were no assignments that would affect military operations. Let no one think that I am going to any deal. Until my resignation on November 20, 2020, I did not have any problems with the Prime Minister,” David Tonoyan said.

Touching upon the corruption in the army, David Tonoyan said that there was, is and will be corruption. “For us, it is a consequence, not a cause. I have worked hard to do everything and reduce it, I look you in the eye and I assure you of that.”

Summarizing his speech, David Tonoyan noted that our society has not yet realized the value of the 1994 victory. “We were defeated in an unequal battle, but that does not give anyone the right to play with the dignity of our people. Instead of infusing people with an inferiority complex, they should work around the clock. Speeches in the style of “everything is over” dishonor the memory of the heroes who were martyred in the 44-day war, they did not give their lives so that we could hear speeches from high tribunes that everything is over, we must agree to all the conditions imposed on us,” the former Minister of Defense said.

The NA Inquiry Committee will continue its sitting on August 2 behind closed doors.