"They have played out their role, they have to be taken away," Voronin told Moscow Echo radio station on the sidelines of a meeting of leaders of ex-Soviet republics in the Russian capital.

"The peacekeepers should be replaced by civilian observers," Voronin said.

Moscow committed to pull out forces from the internationally recognised borders of both Moldova and Georgia under the 1999 adapted Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

But Russian officials say that the presence of peacekeepers in the breakaway territories of Georgia and Moldova helps ensure there is no return to armed conflict there.

Transdnestr, which runs 460 kilometres (285 miles) along the border between Ukraine and Moldova, declared independence in August 1991 before the end of the Soviet Union.

The province fought a war in 1992 to break away from Moldova in which hundreds of people were killed. Transdnestr has received backing from Russia, which also keeps a large arms arsenal in the territory.

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