Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday held telephone calls with Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and promised to send rescuers to both countries after a devastating earthquake.

"In the nearest hours, rescuers from the Russian emergency ministry will take off for Syria," the Kremlin said.

In a separate message, Moscow said Putin also spoke to Erdogan after he accepted the help of Russian rescuers.