Russian diplomat says it may be time to reduce number of U.S. reporters in Russia

FILE PHOTO: Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich appears in this handout picture taken in Moscow, Russia, 2019. The Moscow Times/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to the United States said Washington had threatened retaliation after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained on espionage charges, and suggested it might be time to cut the number of U.S. journalists in Russia.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on March 30 it had detained Gershkovich in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and had opened an espionage case against him for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.