RUSSIA has defended its veto of a UN resolution urging all nations to prevent a nuclear arms race in outer space, challenging the United States, Japan and their Western allies to support Moscow’s rival resolution calling for a ban on all weapons in space “for all time.”

On Monday Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the US and Japan, which sponsored April’s vetoed resolution, are guilty of of hypocrisy and double standards, arguing that the US and its allies oppose a ban because they plan to deploy weapons there. 

He accused the US and Western nations more broadly of planning for the military exploration of outer space, including the deployment of weapons, in particular strike combat systems.