"The withdrawal of armed units from territory where a security corridor should be created has been completed ahead of time," Russian news agencies quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying on a visit to Armenia.

"Syrian border guards and our military police have been deployed there," Shoigu told his Armenian counterpart Davit Tonoyan.

A deadline for the withdrawal had been set at 6:00 pm local time (1500 GMT) on Tuesday.

Last week Russia and Turkey signed a deal for Russian military police and Syrian border guards to "facilitate the removal" of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.

The Turkey-Russia agreement was reached after marathon talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.