Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed a ceasefire will come into force from midnight in Syria, with Russia and Turkey acting as guarantors.

He also agreed to reduce Russia's military presence in Syria.

The Syrian military high command issued a statement today in which they declared a 'comprehensive nationwide cessation of hostilities as of midnight'.

Syria's opposition National Coalition agreed to the ceasefire. A spokesman, Ahmed Ramadan, said: 'The National Coalition express support for the agreement and urges all parties to abide by it.'

President Putin (pictured) is acting along with Turkey and in the vacuum caused by the handover from President Obama to President-elect Trump

Putin said today: 'Three documents have been signed. The first is a document between the Syrian government and armed opposition for a ceasefire on the territory of Syria.

'The second document is a set of measures to verify the ceasefire. The third document is an announcement of their readiness to start peace talks.'

Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the Syrian military was gearing up to halt all operations from midnight local time.

Russian jets on the deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast will abide by a ceasefire in Syria from midnight (file photo)

Russian planes have been bombarding Aleppo (pictured) for months, killing thousands of civilians and eventually helping the Assad regime regain total control of the city

He said the rebel groups that have signed up to the ceasefire comprise 62,000 fighters and he said negotiations had been going on for two months to secure the truce.

Earlier Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said they were working towards a ceasefire to end the conflict, which began in 2011.

Although on opposing sides in the conflict, Turkey and Russia have been working intensively to find a ceasefire after the fall of Aleppo to the Syrian regime last week, in a process that does not include the United States.

The nationwide ceasefire follows the deal brokered by Turkey and Russia for Aleppo which allowed the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians.

Ankara and Moscow have been on opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, with Turkey seeking the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran.

But the two countries have recently started to cooperate more closely on Syria, especially after a deal in the summer to normalise ties battered by Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane last year.

A tractor removes rubble as the Syrian government starts to clean up areas formerly held by opposition forces in the northern city of Aleppo

Their warmer relationship has survived the assassination of the Russian ambassador, Andrei Karlov, by an off-duty Turkish police officer last week.

Mr Cavusoglu said if the ceasefire was successful, political negotiations between Assad's regime and the opposition would take place in the Kazakh capital Astana.

But he said the Astana talks, overseen by Turkey and Russia, were not a rival to UN-backed talks that have been taking place on-and-off in Geneva in recent years.

'This is not an alternative to Geneva. It is a complementary step,' said Mr Cavusoglu.

He said it was necessary for foreign fighters to leave Syria, including those with the Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

'Hezbollah needs to return to Lebanon,' he said.

It is not clear what Iran's view is of that suggestion.

Ankara's close cooperation with Moscow comes amid rapidly increasing strains between Turkey and the United States.

Turkey launched an ambitious operation in northern Syria on August 24 in support of pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, with the aim of ousting jihadists as well as Kurdish militia from the border area.

But Ankara says it has received no support from the US-led coalition as its forces battle to retake the ISIS-held town of Al Bab, taking increasing casualties.

Mr Cavusoglu hit back at the lack of aerial support from the US-led coalition and repeated accusations Washington was arming separatist Kurdish fighters.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who this week accused Washington of backing ISIS, today attacked Washington for its 'support' for terror organisations, by which it is thought he meant Kurdish groups.