You can imagine how much braver those people are than Americans. Who here would protest if you could get dragged into a van and possibly disappear, be tortured or worse?
You mean who would take part in Occupy, Black lives Matter, antifascist, or NoDAPL protest? I'm not saying the risks are equal (electricity torture by Russian services is no joke) but it's fair to point out that popular protesters in the USA also get beaten/mutilated/detained/eliminated by State forces and this is not exactly a new problem (see also: CoIntelPro, Mummia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Fred Hampton, etc etc).
Possibly only detained and intimidated for a while to send a message and discourage other protesters; torture or death would transform each peaceful protester in an angry Russian family of 3 or more, and Putin is already slowly digging his grave by killing civilians in Ukraine.