He says so in this interview:
He chose to move to Russia and accept a permanent residency. He (and his lawyers) have expressed the desire to acquire Russian citizenship eventually as of 2020. The war with Ukraine has changed the political calculus everwhere. Snowden must be feeling caught between the devil and the deep sea.
As someone leaking secrets and overtly critical of American polity, it is hard for him to return to America. Certain jail time awaits. He hasn't been pardoned by the last two presidents despite numerous requests appearing in news. But now with Russian aggression, he finds himself locked in a country where quality of life, freedom & personal security is falling faster than a dropweight. He cannot choose another secure country. Worse, he could be blackmailed by Kremlin to be a state actor/mouthpiece in exchange for his personal security guarantees.
Tough choices.
I wouldn't want to be stuck there for years, to the point where even a few years in jail might be worth considering. But I'm not familiar with the conditions for prisoners in the US.
For these reasons it's probably safer for him in Azerbidjan but he will only be admitted for up to 90 days with a Russian passport. In Armenia he could stay for up to 180 days on a normal visa, but both Armenia and Georgia have extradited fugitives to the US in the past.
He doesn't have too many options.
Snowden leaked his material and managed to avoid Jail. He certain would still be in there (or dead) if the American government had caught him. The US authorities have shown no inclination to admit to their wrongs, so why should Snowden volunteer go to jail?
https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/08/edward-snowden-deserves...