Chisinau, Moldova - Vlad Petrescu used to be a Soviet patriot. He served in the Pacific fleet for three years and for more than two decades drove trucks carrying Moldovan fruit and wine (still a backbone of Moldova's economy) to Moscow, Kiev and oil boom-towns in Siberia. ‘I was raised thinking I lived in the world's most advanced and just society and everybody in the Soviet Union loved Moldova because it made one think of wine and cheerful music. Europe does not make my heart sing, but we need them so that one day our politicians can become honest and corruption-free. After the Soviet collapse he struggled for years to make ends meet as Moldova underwent a painful economic and political transformation that is far from over. Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova must, yet again, choose between its pro-Europe and pro-Moscow sympathies. The nation of three million is one of Europe's poorest. Its economy is largely agriculture-based - and dangerously dependent on ‘the missing generation’- thousands working in Russia and the European Union, often illegally.