MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Russia has long and substantively explained to the United States that it has refused to take part in a nuclear security summit in Washington over the hosting side’s unpreparedness to ensure equal rights for all its participants, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Speaking about the distortion of the substance of our contacts, we now observe the attempts to delude the world public about what is happening around Russia’s non-participation in the nuclear summit in Washington," Lavrov said.

"The measures that are being held in Washington are being staged from the very outset as the events that do not imply equitable participation," the Russian foreign minister said.

"I treat with respect the countries, which have decided to participate in the summit," Lavrov said.

"But we have long and substantively explained that the format, in which it was devised, manifests the countries’ inequality in preparing final documents and the attempts to substitute both the UN, Interpol and the IAEA," Lavrov said.