That didn't work in Canada, a supposedly liberal democracy. Trudeau enacted emergency powers and seized peoples bank accounts, what do you imagine Putin would do?
These truckers just illegally parked for several weeks, made a bit of noise, and some of them accosted passers-by.
I watched some aftermath footage of the vacated streets of Ottawa, the day after they were cleared out. There was no sign of any damage. Not a broken window or anything. I didn't see garbage on the ground. The commentators of the news clips I watched, though decidedly biased against the protesters, didn't remark upon anything like that.
Note that while I oppose the seizing of people‘s bank accounts by Trudeau with every fibre of my body, this whataboutism is easily defused:
Using these kind of soft power moves (basically doing things in the non-meat space) is precisely why Canada is still a liberal democracy.
Even if you became the state‘s enemy #1, the worst that happens is… your bank account is temporarily disabled, overtly (not a clandestine operation, so you can challenge it legally, protest it, etc).
This is completely different from Russia, where you just… disappear (ie you get killed).
I watched some aftermath footage of the vacated streets of Ottawa, the day after they were cleared out. There was no sign of any damage. Not a broken window or anything. I didn't see garbage on the ground. The commentators of the news clips I watched, though decidedly biased against the protesters, didn't remark upon anything like that.