Russia is an easy target ..... well Chechnya is kinda a part of Russia ..... Russia is a politically correct target (10 countries have the death penalty for being gay, all of them muslim), Russia is a comfortable target (history, cold war, etc). So the MSM will ignore the persecution of gays across the middle east and in places like Africa. The MSM jumps on a Russia story, but completely ignores the oppression and persecution of gays elsewhere.