Following his recent trip to Moldova, Giselle Donnelly and Iulia Joja sat down with Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute, to discuss the implications Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have for greater Europe. According to Dr. Fukuyama, since Moldova is 100% dependent on Russia for energy and gas—and Transnistria is 100% dependent on Moldova for its own energy—a potential decision by Russia to cut off gas supplies to Moldova would put two countries on the precipice of an energy crisis. Accordingly, Dr. Fukuyama argued that Europe must rethink its energy policy and help secure gas flows from other parts of the continent to reduce overall dependence on Russian energy supplies. On the topic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent threat to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine, Fukuyama believes it is unlikely. Although Putin has been an “unpredictable risk taker” in the past, resorting to nuclear warfare would be self-destructive; not only would it have international consequences, but it would run the risk of “scaring” Russian citizens and isolating Putin from his own population. For the sake of his own survival, Fukuyama said, nuclear weapons should be out of the question.