Sacked Defence Minister Ivan Šimko warned that Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) faces a collapse.
However, media have reported no turmoil within the strongest ruling coalition party since Dzurinda recalled his close ally Šimko for disobeying party directives by not voting to recall the head of the National Security Office, Ján Mojžiš.
"The SDKÚ is in a situation similar to that of the Third Reich after the battle for Russia's Stalingrad [the first major defeat of Germany during WWII - a substantial turn in the course of the war]," Šimko claims.
Sociologist Michal Vašečka told daily the SME that Šimko is the moral victor of the conflict with the prime minister.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
