By Owen Walden-Harris Since its independence in the 1990s Moldova has struggled to remove itself from Russia’s grasp. Coerced into remaining within the so called ‘near abroad’ by a mixture of a frozen conflict in Transnistria and a Russian stranglehold on its energy supply, its EU ambitions have been repeatedly dashed. However, the war in Ukraine has upended this status quo. Amidst the geopolitical chaos generated and which continues to be generated, Moldova has begun to take the first steps towards weaning itself from Russia’s energy blackmail. The first step was realised on March 16, 2022 wh…