MOSCOW, April 26: The United States pays less than three dollars a year for its ambassador's opulent Moscow residence and Russia is seeking nine million dollars in back rent , Interfax news agency reported on Monday.

Since the rent for Spaso House in central Moscow was set in 1985, the Soviet Union has collapsed and the rouble has lost more than 99.9 per cent of its value, cutting the vast mansion's annual rent to around 2.50 dollars, the agency reported.

Spaso House was built in 1914 for a rich merchant and was seized by communist revolutionaries three years later, before becoming home to the US envoy in 1933.

With a domed, 25-metre main hall, the residence is one of the most prestigious in Moscow, where rents held low in the Soviet era have soared to rival those of London and Tokyo. -Reuters