MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The unauthorized protest rallies in Russia’s Bashkortostan can hardly be called mass riots, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a briefing, adding that local authorities and law enforcement structures are working on it.

"I would disagree with the language ‘mass riots and mass protests.’ There are no mass riots and no mass protests," Peskov said. "There are individual displays."

These displays "fall within the competence of local authorities and law enforcement agencies," the spokesman underscored.

Commenting on the fact that a criminal case has been initiated over charges of mass riots, Peskov explained: "In this case, I used not a legal term, but a term that describes the number of people involved. Because this is how the question was formulated. In a non-legal sense I would disagree that these rallies were massive."

Meanwhile, he pointed out the legal side of the issue.

"If some rallies took place that were not authorized under the set legal procedure, they are covered by certain [administrative or criminal code] articles," the spokesman noted.

On January 17, a court in Bashkortostan sentenced ecological activist Fail Alchinov, included in the list of terrorists and extremists, to 4 years in prison for incitement of 4 ethnic hatred. On the same day, riots took place at the court building, several people got injured. Six protesters were arrested to up to 13 days. The police seek to determine the instigators of the unauthorized rallies.