share: digg facebook twitter The meeting also was attended by top officials from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, countries that are part of the European Union's Eastern Partnership initiative, which is meant to draw the eastern European nations closer to the EU bloc. Mass protests were violently dispersed by police, who arrested more than 700 people, including seven of the country's nine opposition candidates. Westerwelle and Ashton joined Thursday's meeting in Slovakia because it was designed to review the Eastern Partnership program, which was established two years ago to offer closer economic and political ties with the EU in exchange for a commitment to democracy.