Russia will turn off the lights on the Kremlin for the first time as part of worldwide events for the Earth Hour campaign against climate change, officials said.

The lights illuminating the red brick walls of the iconic landmark in the heart of Moscow will be shut off for an hour starting at 8.30pm local time (0330 AEDT) on Saturday following a decision by President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The lights will remain on the Kremlin clock and the Russian flag and glowing red stars that top its towers, a spokesman for the presidential administration, Viktor Khrekov, told RIA Novosti news agency.

The floodlighting of the onion-domed St Basil's Cathedral, which stands just outside the Kremlin walls on Red Square, are also to be turned off, along with about 90 other landmark buildings in Moscow, with the switch-off shown live on Russian television.

Earth Hour organisers expect hundreds of millions of people across the globe to turn off their lights for 60 minutes on Saturday night in a symbolic show of support for the planet.