Dimitar Stoyanov (military officer)
G. S. Rakovski Military Academy{{•}} Maxwell Air War College | occupation = Military officer, civil servant | allegiance = | branch = Bulgarian Air Force | rank = Colonel | office = Minister of Defence | term_start = 8 May 2026 | term_end = | prime_minister = Rumen Radev | predecessor = Atanas Zapryanov | successor = | prime_minister1 = Galab Donev | term_start1 = 2 August 2022 | term_end1 = 6 June 2023 | predecessor1 = Dragomir Zakov | successor1 = Todor Tagarev | office3 = Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Air Force | term_start3 = 2015 | term_end3 = 2016 | office4 = Secretary General to the President of Bulgaria | term_start4 = 23 January 2017 | term_end4 = 2 August 2022 | president4 = Rumen Radev | office5 = Secretary for Security and Defence to the President of Bulgaria | term_start5 = 6 June 2023 | term_end5 = January 2026 | president5 = Rumen Radev }}
Dimitar Zhelyazkov Stoyanov (; born 28 October 1968) is a Bulgarian Air Force colonel, civil servant and politician serving as Minister of Defence, a position he previously held from 2022 to 2023. In March 2026, following Radev's resignation from the presidency, Stoyanov became one of the two co-chairs of the new coalition "Progressive Bulgaria" together with former caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev.
Early life and education
Stoyanov was born on 28 October 1968 in Svilengrad, a town in Haskovo Province in southern Bulgaria. He finished the High School of Mathematics in Haskovo in 1986 and then enrolled at the Georgi Benkovski Higher Air Force School in Dolna Mitropoliya, from which he graduated in 1991.
He later studied at the Command Staff College of the Georgi Rakovski Military Academy in Sofia from 1999 to 2001, and in 2010–2011 he attended the Maxwell Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, United States.
Military career
Stoyanov began his military career in 1991 as an aircraft technician in the 19th Fighter Aviation Regiment stationed at Uzundzhovo. From 1993 to 1995 he served as a senior technician in the same unit, and between 1995 and 1998 he headed a group at the 4th Fighter Air Base at Uzundzhovo. He was subsequently transferred to the Third Fighter Air Base Graf Ignatievo, where between 1999 and 2009 he rose through several engineering positions to become Deputy Commander for Aviation Equipment and Armament. He was Chief of Staff of the base in 2009–2010 and again from 2011 to 2013 following his studies in the United States.
In 2013 he moved to the Air Force Command as head of the Aviation Equipment and Armament Sector, and in 2014 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command. He served as Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Air Force from 2015 to 2016. His military ranks progressed from lieutenant (1991) to colonel (2008).
Political career
Secretary General to President Radev
Following the inauguration of Rumen Radev as President of Bulgaria, Stoyanov was appointed Secretary General of the Presidency by Decree No. 44 of 23 January 2017. He was reappointed to the same post by Decree No. 10 of 22 January 2022 at the start of Radev's second term. According to the Bulgarian news website Actualno, he was widely regarded in political circles as one of the president's closest confidants and a de facto chief of staff.
Caretaker Minister of Defence
On 2 August 2022, President Radev appointed Stoyanov as Minister of Defence in the first caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister Galab Donev, taking over from Dragomir Zakov. He retained the post in the Second Donev Government appointed on 3 February 2023. In office, Stoyanov oversaw the approval of a project worth about 1.32 billion US dollars for the purchase of eight additional F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States. In December 2022, he visited Kyiv, where he met the Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov to discuss further defence cooperation following the Bulgarian parliament's approval of an agreement on the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. His term ended on 6 June 2023 with the appointment of the regular Denkov Government, in which he was succeeded by Todor Tagarev.
Return to the Presidency and Progressive Bulgaria
By presidential decree, Stoyanov was appointed Secretary for Security and Defence to President Radev with effect from 6 June 2023, the same day he left the defence ministry. In that capacity he frequently commented in the media on defence matters and the state of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, including on the country's air-defence readiness amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
After Radev resigned from the presidency in January 2026, Stoyanov submitted, together with Galab Donev, the documents registering the coalition "Progressive Bulgaria" with the Central Electoral Commission on 2 March 2026 for the snap parliamentary election of 19 April 2026. The two men were announced as co-chairs of the coalition, which groups the Political Movement Social Democrats, the Social Democratic Party and the Our People Movement around the former president.
Personal life
Stoyanov is married and has one child. He speaks English and Russian in addition to his native Bulgarian.
Military ranks
Rank |
Year |
|---|---|
Lieutenant |
1991 |
Senior lieutenant |
1994 |
Captain |
1997 |
Major |
2002 |
Lieutenant colonel |
2005 |
Colonel |
2008 |
See also
- First Donev Government
- Second Donev Government
- Progressive Bulgaria