...Kyrgyzstan is suing Canada's Centerra Gold for 15 billion soms ($304 million) over what the government says is ecological damage, marking a new twist in a bitter row with the investor running the largest Kyrgyz gold mine. The state environmental protection and forestry agency...filed the lawsuit...saying Centerra Gold had ignored its earlier request for voluntary compensation. It said the alleged ecological damage included "emissions of pollutants and waste dumps". It said its claim referred to the company's operations between 1996 and 2011. "We rejected these claims at the beginning of this year, and our position has not changed since then," said a spokesman for the Kumtor Operating Company (KOC), the Centerra subsidiary that runs the Kumtor mine in the Tien Shan mountains. Centerra Gold had said earlier that it viewed the government's claim as exaggerated and unfounded. "The company disagrees with these charges and plans to give explanations on this matter in the nearest time," the KOC spokesman said.