Representative August Pfluger and several colleagues sent a letter last week to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging the Department of the Treasury and the Trump Administration to ensure that any sale of Russian energy giant Lukoil’s international assets permanently removes Moscow’s leadership from involvement, according to a Mar. 18 announcement.
The lawmakers said it is important that Russian energy assets do not end up back under adversarial control, as these resources help fund Russia’s military and cyber activities against Ukraine and U.S. allies. The letter praised recent steps by the administration to block such assets but called for vigilance in preventing their return to Russian hands.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business, Pfluger discussed concerns about rising global oil prices and Russia’s increased revenue from oil sales. “I pressed the Biden administration for four years to do more on the sanctions against Russia, to not allow those revenues to go directly into their coffers, which feed their war machine and the chaos that is going on between Russia and Ukraine,” Pfluger said. He added, “We want to make sure that when those assets are divested, that they don’t just once again be resold back into Russian hands in the form of some other named company, which has happened previously… We need to make sure that those revenues are cut off.”
Pfluger also addressed concerns about higher oil and gas prices affecting American citizens as inflation remains a challenge ahead of midterm elections. He said, “When you look at oil futures, they seem to suggest the stability is below $90-$80… I think the hope is that this is a temporary problem.” He noted ongoing threats in strategic locations like the Strait of Hormuz are impacting supply movement rather than overall supply levels.
Pfluger has served in Congress representing Texas’s 11th District since 2021 after replacing Mike Conaway according to Ballotpedia. In 2020, he won his seat by defeating Jon Mark Hogg with nearly 80 percent of the vote as reported by The Texas Tribune. Pfluger was born in Houston in 1978 and currently lives in San Angelo.