The Kremlin on Monday rejected a report from New York-based Human Rights Watch which suggested its warplanes in Syria may have killed 59 civilians, including 33 children, as a probable media hoax.

The rights group cited local residents in northern Homs on Sunday as making the allegations, saying the Russian government should investigate the reports.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, dismissed the report.

"In the last few days we have seen a huge number of media hoaxes and deliberate data releases concerning the consequences of the Russian military air campaign in Syria," Peskov told reporters.

"I think that this report is probably one of those."