Russia has urged the Syrian government to cooperate with a UN mission and allow it to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The ministry said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had agreed that an objective investigation was needed when they spoke by telephone yesterday.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his push for Syria to allow UN inspectors immediate access to investigate the allegations.
"I can think of no good reason why any party, either government or opposition forces - would decline this opportunity to get to the truth of the matter," the UN chief said in Seoul.
Syria's government has offered no public response to UN calls for its team to inspect the site of the attack.
Opposition activists said between 500 and 1,000 were killed and more bodies were being found in the wake of Wednesday's incident.
The Syrian government has insisted it was not responsible.
Activists take samples from victims
Activists say they have prepared body tissue samples from victims of the attack near Damascus and are trying to get them to the team of UN inspectors staying in a hotel a few kilometres away.
"The UN team spoke with us and since then we prepared samples of hair, skin and blood and smuggled them back into Damascus with trusted couriers," said activist Abu Nidal, speaking from the rebel-held town of Arbin.
Several activists in the area who spoke to Reuters said they too had prepared samples to smuggle into the capital, but were unable to find a way to access the monitors inside their hotel.
Images, including some by freelance photographers supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies laid out on floors with no visible signs of injury. Some had foam at the nose and mouth.
Russia has said rebels may have released gas to discredit Mr Assad and urged him to agree to a UN inspection.
The administration of US President Barack Obama said it was "appalled" by the death reports.
A US official familiar with initial intelligence assessments said the attack appeared to be the work of the Assad government.
It was "the regime acting as a regime", the official said.
But the Obama administration made clear that any response would await confirmation of a chemical attack and its origin.
US and Russia to discuss ending Syria's civil war
The US State Department said senior US and Russian diplomats would meet in The Hague next Wednesday to discuss ending Syria's civil war, in what would be the first such meeting since allegations of the chemical attack.
A senior State Department official said chemical weapons would also be discussed at the meeting.
The meeting had previously been announced, but no date had been released.
Mr Obama has directed US intelligence agencies to urgently help establish what caused the deaths, a State Department spokeswoman said while acknowledging it may be difficult given that the US does not have diplomatic relations with Syria.
"At this time, right now, we are unable to conclusively determine CW (chemical weapons) use," the State Department's Jen Psaki told reporters.
"We are doing everything possible in our power to nail down the facts," she added.
Syrian officials say allegations are fabricated
Syria is one of just a handful of countries that are not parties to the international treaty that bans chemical weapons, and Western nations believe it has caches of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.
Syrian officials have called allegations against their forces "illogical and fabricated".
They point to the timing of the attack, days after UN inspectors arrived after months of argument, and to previous assurances that, if they possessed chemical weapons, they would never use them against Syrians.
After months of negotiating with Mr Assad's government to let inspectors into Syria, a UN team arrived in Damascus four days ago.
Their task is to check on the presence, but not the sources, of chemical weapons that are alleged to have been released in three specific, small incidents several months ago.
UN says 1m children have fled Syria
Meanwhile, the United Nations has estimated that the number of Syrian children forced to flee their country has reached one million.
The UN's refugee agency and its Children's Fund said that another two million Syrian minors are uprooted within their country and are often attacked or recruited as fighters in violation of humanitarian law.
They described it as a shameful milestone and said they are struggling to meet the needs of the refugees.
Head of the UN Refugee Agency Antonio Guterres said many of the children were showing signs of trauma, including loss of speech and behavioural disorders.
Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Mr Guterres said: "One million children is more than the number of children living in Wales.
"One million children is more than the number of children living in Los Angeles and Boston combined.
"Can you imagine Wales without children? Can you imagine Boston and Los Angeles without children?"
He said there was an "enormous risk of Syria facing the problem of a lost generation".
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