If paid trolls were to work on hn, they would be unlikely to work in the middle of night. So the lack of people defending Putin and his cronies is not remarkable.

It is indeed unfortunate that there is no discussion about the other people who were arrested at the same protests with Zhukov, and who got 2-3 years for things like throwing plastic bottle towards policemen or touching the helmet, but i don't believe that's because some commenters are trying to divert attention. The article is poorly writen, and i believe Zhukov himself would have made similar comments.