DAVOS, Switzerland — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is prompting soul-searching in neighboring Moldova about whether the country needs to shift away from its constitutionally-enshrined neutrality and lock itself into a “larger alliance.”When asked about potential NATO accession, Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said in an interview with POLITICO the country was still weighing its next step, and whether it would require a constitutional change to do so.“And if we come, at some point, to the conclusion as a nation that we need to change neutrality, this should happen through a democratic process.”In her response, Sandu was careful not to name-check NATO, anathema to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is already trying to destabilize Moldova’s pro-EU government.You may likeAlthough Moldova is not a member of NATO, it does cooperate with the organization and contributes to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo.But Sandu pushes back against any perception that Moldova’s move to strengthen its defense — either by increasing its own military capacity, or by forging closer relations with other allies — is provocative, saying that Russia, not Ukraine or Moldova, is the aggressor.“Russian propaganda managed to convince part of the population that neutrality means you don’t have to invest in your defense sector, that neutrality means you do nothing and you have no capacity to defend yourself, which is wrong.”Sandu, a former World Bank official, was elected in 2020 on an anti-corruption drive."