Nestled between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova has become an unlikely fulcrum in the contest between European integration and Russian influence — a small nation whose choice carries weight far beyond its borders. With the war in Ukraine having dissolved the comfortable ambiguity that once allowed smaller states to hedge between East and West, Chișinău can no longer defer the question of where it belongs. The European Union extends an open but demanding hand, while Russia wields energy, history, and military proximity as instruments of persuasion. What Moldova decides will not merely determine it