UNITED NATIONS — Russia on Monday defended its veto of a UN resolution urging all nations to prevent a nuclear arms race in outer space, challenging the U.S., Japan and their Western allies to support Moscow’s rival resolution calling for a ban on all weapons in space “for all time.”

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the United States and Japan, which sponsored the vetoed resolution, are guilty of of “hypocrisy and double standards.” He accused the U.S. and Western nations more broadly of planning for the military exploration of outer space, including the deployment of weapons, in particular “strike combat systems.”