HMM: Senators Warn Mnuchin of National Security Implications of Russia CITGO Takeover.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is chairman of the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) say he needs to be prepared to protect U.S. energy infrastructure should Rosneft carry through with seizing control of CITGO Petroleum Corporation’s Venezuelan parent company, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.

Oil giant Rosneft is owned by the Russian government and its chairman, Igor Sechin, is a former deputy prime minister under President Vladimir Putin and a close ally. Both the company and Sechin are currently covered under U.S. sanctions.

Amid economic turmoil in Venezuela and the stress of low oil prices, in December PDVSA leveraged 49.9 of its shares in CITGO as collateral for a $1.5 billion loan from Rosneft. With the situation in Venezuela further deteriorating, making default more likely.

I’ve read plenty of “Just let the Russians have it!” sentiment regarding Syria, and even the wider Middle East. Surely that sentiment doesn’t run as far as our own backyard, does it?