Moldova wants EU membership "as soon as possible" to protect the country from the threats it faces from Russia, which include "attempts to destabilise the country". In an interview with AFP, Moldovan President Maia Sandu says she hopes that negotiations will begin "in the next few months". The small nation of 2.6 million people, nestled between EU neighbour Romania and war-ravaged Ukraine, will on June 1 hold its first major wider European summit, bringing leaders of all 27 EU member states together with 20 neighbours of the bloc. "It is important because we see that we are not alone" Sandu says of the summit. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES