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rising gas prices that began peacefully and then turned violent.

But he did not give any deadline for a withdrawal, saying that they would stay as long as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan “considers it necessary,” raising the possibility they could be in the country indefinitely.

2,000 troops his country had sent as “peacekeepers” would leave only once their mission was complete.

The Russian president said the unrest was indicative of foreign attempts to intervene in a region the Kremlin sees as its sphere of influence,

Those protests also helped precipitate Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine that year.

color revolutions,” a term that has been used for the pro-democracy movements that swept many countries of the former Soviet Union.

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At least 5,800 people have been detained and more than 2,000 injured after several days of violence last week in Kazakhstan, according to the president’s office.

“brotherly Kazakh people” —

164 people had died in the violence, including 103 in the country’s economic center, Almaty.

killed

injured

1,300.

“The main goal was obvious: the undermining of the constitutional order, the destruction of government institutions and the seizure of power,” he said.

The rapid evolution of peaceful protests in the Kazakhstan’s west to countrywide demonstrations that quickly descended into violent chaos has led observers to speculate that the unrest was fanned by infighting within the Kazakh elite.

Until now, the oil-rich country has been regarded as a pillar of political and economic stability in an unstable region. The protests are also significant for Vladimir Putin, who views Kazakhstan as part of Russia’s sphere of influence.

Officials have instituted a state of emergency and shut off internet access.

The comments from Mr. Putin came as American and Russian diplomats gathered in Geneva in the hopes of negotiating a drawdown of the 100,000 troops the Kremlin has positioned on the border with Ukraine in recent months.

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In a sign, perhaps, of the power imbalance between them, Mr. Putin forgot Mr. Tokayev’s name during the video meeting Monday, mangling it as “Kemal Zhomartovich,” instead of Kassym-Jomart.

Kazakh officials said on Sunday that order had been restored and that the foreign troops would “probably” be gone by the following week.