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If Putin wanted to let him leave, he would have left already. He's effectively a sort of hostage.
by toyg 3y ago
If Putin wanted to let him leave, he would have left already. He's effectively a sort of hostage.
- netsharc 3y agoAre you sure he would have left? Going to any US-friendly country (or ones that will buckle under their pressure) gives him a high chance of getting arrested and extradited to the US, or he could suffer the Assange treatment from the inhumane Brits. So it seems there are 2 locks keeping him in the "prison".
- abracadaniel 3y agoHe said he wasn’t headed to Russia initially, but his passport was revoked while he was there. If he has a Russian passport now, there’s no obvious reason he couldn’t go to his original destination.
- netsharc 3y agoWikipedia says he was going to a Latin American country, but "while he was aboard the plane [to Moscow], his destination countries grew reluctant to allow him in, and Snowden was thus stuck in the transit area of Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport." but there is no citation. Funnily enough he only got the Russian passport many years later, and if I were to speculate, even if he was free to leave, he probably saw after those few years that Moscow was fine and safe enough to live in that he stopped considering leaving, especially if there was a risk of getting CIA'ed in another country. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden_asylum_in_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden_asylum_in_Russi...
- toyg 3y ago> he only got the Russian passport many years later, [...] he probably saw after those few years that Moscow was fine and safe enough to live in The years he spent passport-less IMHO signaled that the regime considered him a hostage of sort - as others said, a chip that could be spent later on. This might have changed since, but we don't really know if granting him that passport required some sort of deal about not leaving. I wouldn't even assume he lives in Moscow, tbh; at various points he posted pictures showing he was travelling to pretty far-flung places IIRC. If his threat model is "not getting CIA'd", I reckon a less-known city with fewer foreigners, where an external operative would stand out more, would suit him better.
- DANmode 3y agoThe people seeking to collect him illegally grounded the planes of other nation's leaders to look for him. That seems like the reason you're missing.
- DANmode 3y agoThough they likely surveil him quite closely, I feel that, without further (compelling, even circumstantial) evidence, it is unlikely they feel any sort of need to keep him.
- netsharc 3y agoIf I were Putin, I'd keep Snowden as some sort of bargaining chip, although as years go on, Snowden's value as such a chip would continue to decrease that the Americans would probably refuse that barter, preferring to see Putin get screwed rather than to capture Snowden. But if I were Snowden I'd be worried about the regime after Putin, imagine a backroom deal where the US government secretly says "We'll help you get to power in Moscow if you agree to withdraw out of Ukraine, and give us Snowden."
- hollerith 3y agoSure, there is that, but also any Russian administration will want the employees of their enemies to feel safe defecting to Russia. I.e., if the Kremlin gives Snowden to the US, future employees of the US intelligence community become less likely to choose to switch their allegiance to the Russian side.
- DANmode 3y agoHappy to have as a chip? Sure. Willing to be shown making effort to that end? That is different.
- elgatito 3y ago[flagged]