By Michelle Nichols and Jonathan Saul

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia is delaying the appointment of panels of independent experts to monitor violations of U.N. sanctions on South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR)and Mali, diplomats said on Wednesday, leaving their work in limbo.

Diplomats claim that Russia was unhappy about the lack of Western-based experts and wanted more Russians to be added to the panels. Russia wants to increase its presence in Africa and specifically challenge the French influence in Mali, CAR.

Russia’s deputy U.N. Secretary-General said that Russia had put off the approval of several panels and individual experts. Reuters spoke with Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy. Unfortunately, we still have to deal with the fact that the composition of these panels was not balanced geographically. There is a predominant presence of Western representatives.

Mandates for the South Sudan expert panel expired July 1. They were removed for Democratic Republic of Congo, CAR and Mali on August 31st. Mali’s mandate expires on September 30th.

The council must agree to U.N. Secret-General Antonio Guterres’ appointments to these new panels. Otherwise, experts are prevented from beginning work.

Diplomats claim that Russia also delayed the replacement of an expert on the panel which monitors sanctions on Somalia. The remaining experts of that panel can work up to mid-December, when their mandates expire.

Guterres has appointed panels consisting of four to six independent experts from each U.N. Sanctions regime. They report back to the Security Council about violations and make recommendations for further action.

The Security Council renews each year various sanctions and mandates of the panelists. Guterres writes to the Security Council to inform them of the experts he’s appointed. The 15-member council then acknowledges Guterres’ decision and allows the panel to begin work.

Polyanskiy explained that “some of the experts don’t meet the requirements for impartiality neutrality and independent.” This affects their work. This situation should be fixed,”

Earlier this year, the panel of experts monitoring CAR sanctions accused Russian military instructors and CAR troops of targeting civilians with excessive force, indiscriminate killings, occupation of schools and large-scale looting. Russian military instructors were accused by the Kremlin of participating in robberies or killings.