"The Russian emergency services sent an official request to our Ukrainian colleagues to carry out joint work at the crash site of a Boeing (plane) on Ukrainian territory," Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov told Russia's RIA news agency.
Russia's Health Ministry also offered its expertise in helping to identify the bodies of the 295 people killed, ministry spokesman Oleg Salagan told RIA.
It was not clear whether Kiev had responded.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine are badly strained following the overthrow of a Ukrainian president who was sympathetic to Moscow and Russia's subsequent annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine.
Kiev accuses Moscow of backing pro-Russian separatists who have risen up in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies the accusations.
Meanwhile, armed separatists are hindering search efforts at the site, the head of Ukraine's emergency services says.
"The search work is difficult because we are talking about a big radius ... but also because armed terrorists who are on the spot are hampering things," Serhiy Bochkovsky told journalists. He gave no details.
