The article focuses on the population’s perception and understanding of their vulnerability to dangers, assessment of risks, threats and environmental security in the context of all these factors influence on political and social relations. The authors consider a number of issues related to the influence of social-demographic characteristics, political attitudes, level and quality of life on the perception of risks; identify social, institutional and political grounds of risk perception. The article aims at identifying the relationship between risk reflections of different social groups in the Russian society and practices of political participation. The article is based on the data of the all-Russian survey conducted in November 2019 with the support of the Resource Center of the Science Park of the Saint Petersburg State University “Sociological and Internet Studies”. The authors show the attitude of Russians to real actual threats, their willingness to participate in mass protests and various forms of political action. Based on the analysis of z-values, the authors show a possible relationship between the structure of real threats and the willingness of social groups to participate in political actions, and also the impact of age, profession, and income on this relationship. The authors identified groups more inclined to non-conventional political action. Their potential protest is determined not only by dissatisfaction with the level and quality of life, but also by solidarity with other groups and the desire to improve the situation.