- strip_tags: documentation ( source)
- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$string = '<a href="http://lenta.ru/news/2015/07/23/tsipras/" > &laquo;Лента.ру&raquo; </a>';
$aq = preg_replace('~<a\b[^>]*+>|</a\b[^>]*+>~', '', $string);
echo $aq;
echo '<br /><br /><br />'.strip_tags($string, '<a>');