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       The German government on Monday vehemently rejected allegations that Russia's leak of a conversation by high-ranking German military officers was an indication that Berlin was preparing for war against Russia.

       At the same time, the government sought to contain the domestic fallout from the leak and promised a quick investigation into how it was possible that a conversation by top German military personnel could be intercepted and published.

       “It is absolutely clear that such claims that this conversation would prove, that Germany is preparing a war against Russia, that this is absurdly infamous Russian propaganda,” a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Berlin.

       Government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said the leak was part of Russia’s “information war” against the West, and that the aim was to create discord within Germany.

       Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded TV channel RT, posted the leaked audio on social media on Friday, the same day that late opposition politician Alexei Navalny was laid to rest after his still-unexplained death two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony.

       In the 38-minute recording, military officers can be heard discussing how Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Kyiv against invading Russian forces.

       It comes as Germany continues to debate whether to supply the missiles to Ukraine as Kyiv faces battlefield setbacks, and while military aid from the United States is held up in Congress.

       German authorities on Saturday said they were investigating the recording.

       Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was in Rome on Saturday, called it a “very serious matter” and said that German authorities were working to clarify the matter “very carefully, very intensively and very quickly.”

       Germany investigates Ukraine aid military recording leak in Russia

       His comments were carried by Germany’s DPA news agency.

       Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and is further stepping up its support this year.

       But Scholz has stalled for months on Ukraine’s desire for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometres and could in theory be used against targets far into Russian territory.

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       Four people died and at least 21 were injured after a fire broke out during the night between Sunday and Monday at a retirement home in western Germany.

       The incident - first reported by the German news agency dpa - took place in Bedburg-Hau in North Rhine-Westphalia.

       It wrote that 46 other residents were evacuated and needed medical examination for possible injuries.

       A firefighter and police officer were also injured and taken to a hospital, according to police.

       A caregiver holds a daffodil in front of a stretcher on which a deceased person is being carried outside a retirement home after a fire broke out during the night.Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP

       The fire has since been put out, but firefighters are still reportedly working at the scene.

       The cause of the fire is being investigated.

       The identity of the victims has not yet been disclosed to the public.

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       A key vote for control of Serbia's capital - a focal point of widespread fraud reports after last December elections - is to be rerun later this year, officials said on Sunday.

       The announcement follows months of soaring political tensions over claims the ruling populists of President Aleksandar Vu？i？ rigged the vote for Belgrade's city assembly.

       His right-wing Serbian Progressive Party was declared the winner of the 17 December election. But the main opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence, have insisted they were robbed of a victory in the capital.

       They say widespread irregularities also marred the parliamentary vote that took place at the same time.

       The dispute has led to large street protests.

       It was not immediately clear when the new vote would be held.

       Sunday marked the formal deadline to form the Belgrade city authorities following the December vote. The outgoing assembly will remain in place until the new election.

       Vu？i？ and his party have denied any wrongdoing, dismissing fraud claims as fabrications aimed at destabilising Serbia.

       International election observers, however, said earlier this week that the December election was held in “unjust conditions,” in part because of the president’s involvement and systemic advantages for the ruling party.

       The report by an office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe also said the ballot was “marred by harsh rhetoric, bias in the media, pressure on public sector employees and misuse of public resources.”

       It listed a set of recommendations for Serbia to fulfil before its next vote.

       Opposition politicians said the announcement of the new vote showed that Vu？i？'s party was defeated in Belgrade after his decade-long tight grip on power.

       “Today they admitted they lost (the election) despite the robbery of enormous proportions,” said Vladimir Obradovic, an opposition candidate for the Belgrade mayor.

       "The citizens of Belgrade have shown they don't want them (the ruling Serbian Progressive Party)."

       The opposition and some local election monitors have claimed that voters from abroad were added to voters’ lists in Belgrade and were bused in on election day to vote for the ruling party.

       Serbia is a candidate for European Union membership, but Vu？i？ has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms since taking a firm grip on power in the Balkan country over a decade ago.