( CNN ) -- It was with a heavy heart that I heard Edward Snowden has been granted , and apparently accepted , temporary asylum in Russia for one year . Short of locking him naked in solitary confinement as an example to other leakers , as was done to Bradley Manning , Russia is exactly where the American intelligence community wants Snowden . How better to discredit Snowden 's warnings of the threat posed to civil liberties by our ever-growing surveillance state than to ceaselessly point out that he has found sanctuary in the arms of the FSB , the successor to the KGB ? I suspect this latest development will nix any possibility of reform of domestic surveillance operations coming out of the House Judiciary Committee . Of course , at this point , where else could Snowden go ? He had spent five weeks in Moscow 's Sheremetyevo Airport . That had to be a purgatory on earth . By leaning on our allies , America had effectively trapped him there . One should not take too seriously , though , the outrage expressed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Congress over this latest Russian perfidy . By fleeing to America 's traditional bogeyman , Snowden has seriously blunted his own effectiveness . He has become an easy target for the U.S. government to demonize . Into whose hands has Edward Snowden actually put himself ? With nowhere else to go , he is now physically under the control of a government whose leadership under Vladimir Putin has raised human rights alarms worldwide for the alleged killing of dissenting reporters , the jailing of performance artists like Pussy Riot and -- most recently -- the criminalization of homosexuality . Putin 's thumbing of the nose to the Obama administration may be seen as a great thing for Snowden and his fate , but it 's important to bear in mind that today 's Russia is no more a bastion of free speech than China . Opinion : How Putin 's move could help Snowden and U.S. Years ago , I was convicted of espionage , sentenced to 40 years imprisonment , and packed off in chains to a federal penitentiary . It was more than I could endure , so one cold winter night I escaped through the razor wire . I at once became America 's most wanted fugitive . I was hunted high and low by the FBI and the U.S . Marshals Service . I was shot at and chased and forever looking over my shoulder . I too contemplated seeking sanctuary in Russia . I thought long and hard about it because there was an easy route through Havana to Moscow . But I could not stomach the thought of it . I decided I would rather live the life of a hunted fugitive in my own country than spend my years controlled as a puppet of the KGB . After my arrest in 1977 , I spent 25 years in prison . Contrary to what many believe , my partner and I did not give information to the Soviet Embassy to aid the Soviet Union . I did what I did because I wanted to publicize and strike back at the U.S. intelligence community for the things I saw that outraged me . It was a mistake that cost me dearly , and one that I lived to regret . I suspect Snowden will come to regret his actions just as deeply . This , more than anything else , would be the greatest tragedy of all . Opinion : What 's in it for Russia ? There is no doubt in my mind that Edward Snowden will rather be anywhere else on earth than in the arms of Putin 's Russia . Of course , there are two exceptions to that statement : He does not want to be dead and he does not want to be sitting naked in an American solitary confinement cell . I do not see that his choices were all that great . Meanwhile , the U.S. surveillance state will go on stockpiling the sensitive personal data of the American people . The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court will continue to function as a secret rubber stamp to spy on our own citizenry . The bulk collection of our telephone data will mushroom . The addresses of all letters and packages mailed and received will continue to be photographed by the U.S. Post Office . Internet companies will continue to be bent to the secret purposes of the surveillance state . The NSA will go on recording all our e-mail . Opinion : Snowden is an unwanted guest in Putin 's Russia . Transparency , public disclosure , and open debate will be stifled as America becomes the world 's first cyber-superpower . And politicians of both parties will go on fearing to resist lest they be blamed should a cyber-attack happen . Our surveillance state is only just beginning to flex its technological muscles . We have nothing to lose but our civil liberties . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Chris Boyce .
NSA spy John Boyce : Snowden is right where U.S. intelligence wants him to be . Putin : Russia , with such a poor human rights record , ignored Snowden 's request . Putin : Snowden will regret it , but it 's better than his possible treatment in a U.S. prison . Meanwhile , the U.S. government will continue to spy on its citizens unabated , he says .