The comment was: > He only had to take asylum in Russia because the US revoked his passport and prevented him from going anywhere else. That implies that it's

The comment was: > He only had to take asylum in Russia because the US revoked his passport and prevented him from going anywhere else. That implies that it's the fault of the US government that he is currently in Russia (I think it also forwards the misconception that Snowden was in Russia when his passport was revoked). He didn't have to flee to Hong Kong to begin with. When the US government requested extradition and revoked his passport in order to keep him inside Hong Kong, he fled using what turned out to be an invalid travel document. Snowden has ended up in purely out of his own actions. The US isn't preventing him from traveling - he can walk down to the embassy at any time he wants and get a plane ticket home.