Maybe Snowden thought Russia would be a fun place for a young male to live.
He was a libertarian. Maybe he'd read the book by Matt Taibbi, the libertarian writer at Rolling Stone, about his fast life there.
This is from an article about DT's connections with Deutsche bank, but this part made me think about Snowden.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-russia-secret-deutsche-bank-753780.html
Well before Sater went looking for a deal there, the Russian capital was awash with petrodollars and opportunity. At the start of the new millennium, Moscow was an alluring destination for Western expatriates. Especially for young single males. There were the devushki—long-legged Russian girls, some from Moscow, some newly arrived from the provinces—who were keen to meet foreigners and practice their English. There were the nightclubs, the parties, fueled by toasts and endless vodka shots. And the friendships, always more intense than those at home.
= new reply since forum marked as read
https://newrepublic.com/article/113589/edward-snowden-lands-moscow-way-ecuador-asylum
Edward Snowden's Strange Layover in Moscow
Who knew that Moscow was on the way from Hong Kong to Quito?
To be clear: there is absolutely no way that Snowden could have pulled off this feat without cooperation of the Russians at the highest levels. First, there's the fact that Moscow immediately jumped on the Snowden story about two weeks ago, saying archly that it would consider granting Snowden asylum. The NSA leaks were not a story in Russia—the Kremlin's security forces are big and competent snoopers—but, says Miriam Elder of The Guardian, Snowden became one, with Kremlin-friendly politicians slamming the U.S. for prosecuting Snowden and saying that Russia will gladly open its arms to those the hypocritical Americans attack for speaking the truth. (I won't even comment on the irony of this, except to refer you to the Economist's classic piece on this Cold War tactic known as "whataboutism."
Moreover, Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow—and will fly Moscow to Havana—on Aeroflot. Aeroflot (which, to all you haters out there, is quite a decent airline internationally) is majority owned by the Russian government. The airport was, according to reporters on the scene, crawling with FSB agents in anticipation of Snowden's arrival. And of course it was: Snowden has some interesting information on him—there's been reports of laptops—and there's no way the Kremlin would allow a high-profile, high-value person like this to pass through without having its paws all over the logistics of it.
And then there's the question of why Snowden had to go through Moscow at all. Surely there are ways to get from Hong Kong to Ecuador without a weird hook through Moscow.
His Aeroflot flight landed him in Russia, amidst a small army of very warm FSB agents.
Yes, his extended airport stay was an elaborate ruse, and there is no question he is quite a sneaky fellow.
