Not really. Putin is former FSB and Russia's interests always are defined by having a security state. Today, during the Soviets and before with the Tsar, Russia has always used a heavily authoritarian regime to maintain security. They must in order to maintain sovereignty.
While there could be simple pragmatism here, Putin does not operate as a pragmatist and it is in his direct interest to keep the leaks to a minimum so that they can be the sole ones to know of how it operates.
After all, if they know how we're spying and their own adversaries don't, they're better off.
I'm having a very hard time parsing what you wrote and trying to understand how the tsar/soviet era (or anything you say in that comment) is relevant in any way to the current Snowden situation.
Russia has been playing the Great Game in its sleep since Peter The Great. This country is always changing and always staying the same.
So while the ideology of the high command may change you always have very strong central government which is chasing Russian interests with great zeal.
While there could be simple pragmatism here, Putin does not operate as a pragmatist and it is in his direct interest to keep the leaks to a minimum so that they can be the sole ones to know of how it operates.
After all, if they know how we're spying and their own adversaries don't, they're better off.