Serbia and Montenegro Defence Minister Prvoslav Davinic refused to resign on Friday despite expulsion from his own party over a scandal involving an allegedly inflated military procurement contract.
But all signs from the Serbian government pointed to his likely dismissal following a week of wrangling in which he had agreed to go voluntarily.
"I had accepted to withdraw from the post without a procedural recall," Davinic said in a statement. "But ... that's not an option any more and I am neither resigning nor have I resigned." Davinic serves as minister of the Serbia and Montenegro union - all that remains of the former Yugoslavia. The union has five ministries with little actual power of their own. The two republics keep the money and political clout to themselves.
But the constitution says it is up to President Svetozar Marovic of the union to appoint and replace the defence minister, and so far he has not done so.
While Davinic summoned a news conference, his liberal G17 Plus party, which also holds the posts of deputy prime minister and finance minister in Serbia's coalition government, expelled him from its ranks, saying he was unfit to serve.
"By the abuses and offences he has committed, Prvoslav Davinic has disqualified himself as a person capable of carrying out any duty in a serious and democratic state," it said.
Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic of G17 Plus said Davinic had signed a 5-year equipment contract for 296 million euros without consulting the Serbian government, which foots the bill. He said the deal called for 74,000 combat helmets and 69,000 flak jackets for an army - already heavily indebted - of 28,000 men. The contract also called for 500 pilot jackets for an airforce of less than 30 planes, the finance minister said.
It was far more than the country needed and the prices were highly inflated, he said, vowing to smash corruption.
The row exposes mounting friction between reformists trying to repair an economy warped by communism while paying off the impoverished country's debts, and a military establishment long used to writing its own ticket with political consent.
Davinic, flanked by the country's top military brass, accused Dinkic of "treason" for disclosing military secrets and said he would bring charges.
"This is a planned attack on the army aimed at weakening it," he said. "This is a bitter struggle over army property and whose man is going to control it," Davinic said. The former Yugoslav army owns prime real estate throughout the country.
The dispute also lays bare the cumbersome political structure of the Serbia and Montenegro union - which critics say is a useless fiction close to its deathbed - and the tangled relations between the two constituent republics.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica also weighed in against Davinic on Friday, in a further sign there was scant likelihood of him clinging to office much longer.
"Life in Serbia is too difficult today to allow anyone to spend even a single dinar, never mind 300 million euros, if it's not the utmost necessity and in the essential interests of the country," Kostunica said.