"Russia, on the other hand, would seem to get around all three of
these problems. The country is not a liberal democracy, or at least not
widely viewed as such, meaning Moscow would risk little international
credibility by defying a U.S. extradition request. It’s big enough that
it doesn’t need to worry too much about upsetting the United States,
which it clearly doesn’t,
and is economically mostly tied to neighboring European and Asian
states anyway. But Russia is also geopolitically weak enough that,
unlike in the Soviet era when it was a true global power that negotiated
frequently with its rivals, Moscow doesn’t have lots of crucial ongoing
deals with the Americans. The biggest ones, cooperation on terrorism
and Syria, are mostly stalled anyway.
Maybe most important, though, is Russia’s long history of sheltering
Western fugitives, unbroken even by the fall of the Soviet Union and
complete transformation of the Russian government. Deposed heads of
state, shunned by most of the world, get luxurious homes in the
upscale town of Barvikha,
a little Paris custom-built for high-profile exiles. British
intelligence officials who were caught spying for the Soviets and fled
there half a century ago
are still under Moscow’s protection; George Blake, now 91 years old, is
still living on a Soviet KGB officer’s pension, though neither the KGB nor the Soviet Union have existed in 20 years."
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/27/snowdens-only-safe-choice-may-be-to-stay-in-russia-indefinitely/?hpid=z2
