A TOXIC spill from China reached Khabarovsk in Russia yesterday, and the region’s governor appealed for calm in the Far Eastern Russian city, where residents have crammed their apartments with bottles, pails, pans and even bathtubs full of fresh water.

Beijing tried to ease strains with Moscow over a river-borne toxic spill flowing toward Russia by today promising to send filtering materials, while five more Chinese cities prepared to stop drawing water from the river.