MOSCOW - The U.S. ambassador's residence in Moscow won't be low-rent living anymore.

In an effort to end years of acrimony, the United States and Russia have agreed to end an exceptional real-estate bargain - renting the vast and luxurious U.S. ambassador's residence for just a few dollars a year.

Statements from the U.S. Embassy and the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that a new 49-year lease for the residence, called Spaso House, has been worked out.

The statements didn't specify the price. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said it was against policy to state the lease amount but said the agreement "appropriately reflects the value of Spaso House."

A 20-year lease on Spaso House was negotiated in 1985 at the official Soviet exchange rate of $1.66 to the ruble; since then the ruble's value has plunged to about 3.5 cents.

That meant, according to Russian officials, that the United States was paying about $3 a year for the commodious residence in one of Moscow's most upscale neighborhoods. In May, when Russia most recently raised the issue publicly, a U.S. Embassy official said that estimate of the rent figure was roughly correct.

In recent years, Russian officials repeatedly complained about the arrangement and even threatened to take it to international arbitration. But U.S. officials countered that when the lease was negotiated, Soviet officials insisted that no provisions be made for currency fluctuations.

Russian officials had said the United States should pay as much as $9 million in compensation.

Spaso House, a mansion built in 1914, is especially noted for its 82-foot-long main hall with a domed ceiling.

It sits amid carefully tended gardens on a quiet lane off the Arbat, a popular street for shopping and entertainment.

Typical rents in the neighborhood are around $3,000 a month for a 1,100-square-foot apartment.

A Christmas party in 1934, the year the mansion became the ambassador's residence, was noted for the presence of three trained seals that "went berserk in the ballroom," according to the U.S. Embassy Web site.