Snowden went public while in HK prior to traveling to Russia because he knew Obama and the shadow government would let him go wherever he wanted to go.
Was Snowden going public a kind of false flag event? The purpose of which was to set the stage for more security and less liberty? Meanwhile, pretending to do the opposite as Obama did in this speech about the whole thing:
Here is a video last month with the Kuwait guy. Snowden clearly indicates he can't travel freely at the end of last month. Suggesting he made a deal before the trip: