Postcard from Chisinau
PRESIDENT Maia
Sandu may have just seen off the most contested election cycle in Moldova’s recent history. But already our tiny, landlocked east European home faces a new crisis that combines energy, politics, Russia and Ukraine.
The historic end to Russian gas exports to Europe through Ukraine (yes, the pipeline trade continued, despite the war) on 31 December should have been a high point for Europe’s growing energy independence from the Kremlin. For Moldova, however, it has meant a whole new
force majeure
just weeks after Moscow threw everything it had to swing our double-bill EU referendum and presidential elections in October.