> 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 s

> 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.