"It is important that international action to resolve this crisis is not limited to Turkey and Russia," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.

"Europe must deal with current events taking place at the border of our continent because these are issues that directly affect several EU member states."

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer welcomed an announced continuation of the ceasefire in the context of the accord, while dismissing the broader agreement as insufficient.

"It remains the case that a country, Turkey -- our NATO partner which may have legitimate security interests -- annexed territory in violation of international law, people have been displaced and we cannot just sit by," she said.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would raise her concerns, as well as her controversial proposal to deploy international troops to establish at a security zone in northeastern Syria, at a NATO defence ministers meeting starting Thursday in Brussels.

The initiative floated by Kramp-Karrenbauer and backed by Merkel has met with resistance from leading Social Democrats, junior partners in Germany's ruling right-left coalition.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters Tuesday the notion had also provoked "a certain degree of irritation" among Germany's NATO allies.

Under the deal struck Tuesday, Russian military police and Syrian border guards will "facilitate the removal" of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.

It will also see Turkey preserve a "safe zone" inside Syria about 75 miles long and 20 miles deep. Russia and Turkey will eventually launch joint patrols along the zone.

The prospect of thousands of Islamic State group jihadists escaping in the chaos after Turkey launched its military action on October 9 has caused widespread alarm in the West including Germany.