Talks between Georgia and Russia begin in Geneva on Wednesday, in a carefully orchestrated move to bring the two sides together after their August war without raising the divisive issue of Moscow’s recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions.

The low-key talks, mediated by the European Union, the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and attended by the US, are being held at senior official rather than ministerial level because of a dispute over the participation of representatives from the disputed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.