I don't know how he could really do much more damage at this point. What would killing him achieve. And also can't they get him in Russia too? I mean in a country like that with all the mafia, etc. A few million would go a long way. I wonder how much Russia is protecting him from a CIA hit. In Russia he's much more of a threat as Putin's useful idiot than he would be on American soil. I am not saying he's a useful idiot, I am saying he's a useful idiot to Putin and that's why Putin has given him protection. Also I don't think that you hand over a chip like Snowden without serious concessions from the US. But could happen under Trump.

Assassinating someone on Russian soil is a great way to start a war. You seem to be assuming that it could be covered up successfully. History proves otherwise; all too often, the truth comes out eventually. And if he were assassinated, the party responsible would be fairly obvious early on, because there's only one country that would have the motivation to finance that operation.

Putin gives him protection because it lets him thumb his nose at the US.

Killing somebody on foreign soil opens you up to a whole can of worms that killing on your own soil doesn't, so regardless of whether or not he is being actively protected there is significant passive protection just by being there.

So are we to assume that the CIA wants Snowden dead, but they can't get a chance to kill him in Russia? I found that hard to believe. Maybe, there is some kind of commitment to the FSB (don't kill in the US, we won't go on a killing spree in Russian soil kind of deal), but even that I find it hard to believe. I also find very hard to believe the claim the the FSB somehow protects him.

>So are we to assume that the CIA wants Snowden dead, but they can't get a chance to kill him in Russia?

Not so much can't get a chance as the price would be too high. He's under Russian protection. That protection is political far more than tactical. The CIA could probably pick him up in less than an hour if they knew they could do it without pissing off the Russians. It's the "pissing off the Russians" part that's stopping them, not the logistics.

It isn't just pissing off the Russians, its pissing off everybody. When you perform an act on foreign soil you open yourself up to scrutiny from everyone. The USA is already largely considered a warmonger state

As for whether the CIA would want Snowden dead - I presume it would only have been useful to them pre-leak, and I doubt murder would have been on the cards then anyway. I don't see retribution as being particularly high on the CIA's list of priorities, and the political entities in the US that are keeping Snowden relevant wouldn't appear to gain anything from his death.

I'm sure the USG would love to put him on trial if he would return to the USA.

Obama said as much in why he pardoned Manning and not Snowden, in that Manning has already gone through the justice system whereas Snowden has not.

First, let's accept the conceit (for now) that nation-states have both the desire and the capability to do this.

In that context, it's very easy to imagine ways to frame the death such that it would prevent him from seeming a martyr. Died in a car accident, strangled during auto-erotic asphyxiation, shot in a drug deal gone bad, depression-related suicide, etc. The right context could be used to discredit him further, in addition to silencing any potential impact by giving speeches or serving as a public figure for a privacy-focused organization in the future (for example).

Of course, you could then respond that it would still spawn conspiracy theories, but the doubt planted would certainly blunt the kind of wide-spread movement (or public outrage) that might otherwise sprout from a bald-faced assassination. Realistically, conspiracy theories will pop up in any situation in which Snowden doesn't die of old age at 95, so this isn't much of a dissuading factor for our hypothetical villains.

We know that state-sponsored assassination is possible, based on the basically-obvious case of Litvinenko. Crucially, we can also never know of any attempt which was successfully reframed, which makes it impossible to determine whether or not these "accidents" exist; there are many, many deaths which have been nominated as candidates, but no conclusive evidence of those that I'm aware of.

So, rather than "would the people in power allow it", I think the following 3 questions are more pertinent:

1 - Are nation-states competent enough to plausibly disguise the attempt?

2 - Which nation-states conduct this kind of behavior?

3 - Who in the intersection of Q1 and Q2 cares enough about Snowden to do it?

I think the public has a short attention span. What if Snowden disappeared without a trace? He wouldn't be a martyr - intelligent people might assume that he's dead, and everyone else would be worried about the current distraction in media and entertainment.