RUSSIA has vetoed a United Nations resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling for nuclear arms to be banned from outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that singled out weapons of mass destruction when all others should also be prohibited.

Wednesday night’s vote by the 15-member security council was 13 in favour, with Russia opposed and China abstaining.

The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that includes the US and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.