Russia being better or worse isn’t relevant here. If Snowden moved to a NATO country he would easily be extradited back to the US. Russia is one of the US’s biggest rivals, which means Russia has an active incentive to keep him “safe” so he can keep whistleblowing.
As long as you get offended over the use of the word, you are giving that word power. Do what the LGBTQ community did and defang words like “f*g” and “qu##r”