With a population of just 2.6 million and one of the smallest economies in Europe, Moldova barely registers by most European Union metrics. Yet the small former Soviet republic wedged between EU member Romania and war-ravaged Ukraine has drawn outsized attention from the continent’s powerful democracies and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The country’s aspiration to join the E.U. will now be enshrined in the Constitution but the referendum was incredibly close.

The European Union has condemned Russia's attempts to sway the outcome of the presidential election and the referendum on Moldova's European accession, promising to continue to support the country's democratic progress.