MOSCOW: Russia said Tuesday that Kurdish forces in northern Syria had withdrawn from areas along Turkey’s border as planned under a deal between Moscow and Ankara. “The withdrawal of armed units from territory where a security corridor should be created has been completed ahead of time,” Russian news agencies quoted Defense 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 p.m. 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 kilometers (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.