What here are you saying is a myth? I've been a Snowden supporter from the beginning, but it's unwise to ignore the realpolitik of the current situation. It's not like if he starts saying things that are critical of Russia and draws aggro, he can just come back to the West without facing severe persecution. Based on his already having given up so much performing thankless patriotic service to the United States, I'd personally say he's entitled to just live out the rest of his days saying whatever the Kremlin tells him he needs to and otherwise just taking it easy. And I know that's a shitty position for him to be in while still seemingly having plenty to say himself, but that's the reality.
The myth is that he ran to the enemy of the US to be friendly with Russia.
There is no reason for the Kremlin to tell him to say anything. There would be a lot of negative consequences for that if it came out and Snowden is quite literally known for being outspoken, and it would also be harmful for Snowden if he was forced to say something untrue.
Ironically our own politicians misrepresent the truth far more often than Snowden seems to.
But obviously he is refraining from saying anything critical of the very obvious tyrannical situation in Russia
>There would be a lot of negative consequences for that if it came out
The current Russian government doesn't seem too concerned about negative consequences, whether short or long-term.
The consequence is what, bad PR? Lol. It's piss in the ocean. This wouldn't even register in the top 100,000 "negative consequences" that the Russian government is facing right now.
I don't see that anybody here has said he ended up in Russia because he wanted to be friendly with Russia. Rather simply that going to Russia (and then getting stuck there) was the better alternative to being persecuted by USG.
There would be no repercussions for the Kremlin being exposed as having instructed Snowden on what to say. Russian propaganda works in the presence of everyone knowing it's propaganda, by sheer volume. There would obviously be repercussions for Snowden if he talked about any such thing though. The dynamic could also merely just be the implication though, coupled with a bunch of understandable resentment from having been persecuted by USG.
(and I don't really care to engage with the whataboutist relativist argument)
