It's not idiotic at all. There are many countries which don't have this sort of issue, eg Iceland (where many were expecting him to go a week ago). Julian Assange seemed quite happy with Sweden until he found himself at odds with the laws on sexual conduct there (and recall that it is to Sweden, rather than the US, that Britain wants to extradite him).
Russia doesn't have an 'imperfect track record' in this area. It has a pretty poor one, and I'm guessing you're not going to see a wave of libertarian idealists heading there any time soon for just this reason. It's not unreasonable to question Snowden's motives based on the company he keeps.
