Toxic slick enters Russia from China

"The water polluted with benzene today reached the Russian border and has flowed into the Amur river," which forms the border between the two countries, the minister, Sergei Shoigu, said in the city of Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border.

However, initial tests by Russian experts showed the slick, which contains benzene and nitrobenzene, is not as highly concentrated as had been feared and is continuing to dilute, officials from the emergency situations ministry said.