This weekend Moldovans will vote in a referendum on joining the EU, with preliminary polls suggesting around 63% are in favour. But some remember Moldova's time as a Soviet state with fondness.
Luca Melnicenco is the oldest man in his village. Quietly, the 90-year-old surveys the rural scene from a bench in front of his home. After about 30 minutes, a bike passes by. Nowadays, around 750 people live in his home of Chioselia Rusă. It's a different world to when Moldova was part of the Soviet Union, a time he remembers fondly. 'It was good, everyone here worked. No one left to go abroad. Not like today,' Mr Melnicenco says.
'I think 70% of people are zombies,' she says, claiming residents are being brainwashed and that Kremlin proxies are encouraging them to vote No or not vote at all. One of the poorest countries in Europe, Moldova applied to join the EU after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Moscow isn't keen to give up influence in the former Soviet state strategically positioned next to Ukraine and the Black Sea.
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