On Monday, the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports in an effort to squeeze authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro. Although U.S. sanctions may well do the trick and pave the way for a stable resolution to the crisis, there are complicating factors : China and Russia.

Even though China may be less willing to subsidize an unstable Maduro than in previous years, it is no less interested in the country's oil and the $20 billion it's owed for current investments. Russia too remains heavily invested in Maduro's government as a result of billions of dollars in arms sales.

If China and Russia become some of the only countries that Venezuela can export oil to, that gives those countries enormous leverage over Caracas.

It also leaves China or Russia free to potentially take control of parts of the country's oil industry. Indeed, Sinovesa offers a clear model for this arrangement. The firm, jointly owned by a Chinese state-owned company and a subsidiary of Venezuelan national oil monopoly PDVSA, has successfully boosted production and profitability.

There's no reason to think that in an effort to pay off loans, Maduro wouldn't allow Beijing or Moscow to take more control of oil production.

Another possibility stems from the reality that the new sanctions will significantly cut into the the oil revenue Venezuela currently depends on to pay off its massive debts owed to Russia and China.

The fallout from that could be quite complicated due to Venezuela's tangle of collateral and assets.

As Ellen R. Wald points out in Forbes, Citgo, a Venezuelan-owned refinery in the United States, is collateral on Venezuela's debts to Russian oil company Rosneft. If new sanctions mean that Maduro's government cannot make good on repaying its loans, Rosneft could try to take partial ownership of Citgo as 49.9 percent of company shares are currently collateral against loans to Russia.

That would likely set up a fight between the U.S. and Russia on the grounds that Russian control of Citgo would constitute a national security crisis potentially provoking conflict.

Finally, as I explained on Friday, should U.S. efforts to oust Maduro prove successful and a new administration move to void agreements made with China and Russia, those countries would likely cast U.S. involvement as part of a broader strategy to undercut their power. That would not only complicate existing negotiations — for example trade war talks with Beijing — but likely escalate tensions.

As the U.S. takes another step into the economic and diplomatic mess in Venezuela, Washington must recognize that it is not the only major player on the world stage with interests in Latin America. China and Russia have multi-billion dollar interests in Venezuela, and they want to make good on their investment — never mind what Washington thinks will lead to stability or be good for the people of Venezuela.