(GENEVA) - Georgian and Russian delegates will gather for face-to-face talks here Wednesday for the first time since their countries went to war in August but the air hangs heavy with anger, suspicion and uncertainty.

The negotiations in Geneva are meant to provide a forum for Russians and Georgians to sit down together and work out how to assist displaced people faced with the onset of winter and launch an overall process for resolving the conflict.

"The international discussion that shall take place tomorrow is a beginning. This should not be seen as the end. It may take time, so we need to have some patience," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told journalists late on Tuesday.

As if to prove his point, Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili cast doubt on the chances of success while branding representatives of Georgia's rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as "ethnic cleansers".

"We don't think these people are politicians, we think they are ethnic cleansers and we think they are criminals," Saakashvili told reporters in Brussels, after talks with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

The participation, or not, of South Ossetian and Abkhazian officials in the meetings in Geneva has been the major sticking point ahead of the talks and appeared still unresolved on Tuesday night.

"We will leave those questions for tomorrow," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters after being asked about who exactly would participate in the Geneva talks.

"We will see tomorrow how the various players react," he added.

His comments were echoed by Alexander Stubb, the Finnish foreign minister who chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is co-hosting the talks along with the UN and the European Union.

"We know that this is a long process, we're taking it slowly, step by step," Stubb said.

Russia has indicated it could pull out if delegations from the Georgian territories are not awarded equal status.

Georgia has said the official format for the talks only includes representatives of Georgia, Russia, the United States, European Union, OSCE and UN.

Speaking to AFP, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria said Tuesday that Tbilisi could accept meeting with the regions' rebel leaders but only informally and if pro-Georgian representatives of those areas were included.

Although Russia has withdrawn from most of Georgia in line with an EU-brokered ceasefire, Tbilisi is furious at the continued presence of 7,600 Russian troops in the Georgian rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insists Moscow has fulfilled its ceasefire obligations and Moscow says it will demand at the meeting a ban on all weapons sales to Georgia.

According to a diplomat in Brussels close to the issue, the representatives from South Ossetia and Abkazia would participate in talks at the level of two working groups, but not at the plenary sessions.

The European delegation has been urged by the US-based non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch to focus on protecting civilians and holding both sides to account for abuses.

"Civilians bore the brunt of this conflict," HRW's Rachel Denber said in a statement. "Tens of thousands had to flee, and now they need safe and secure conditions so they can return to their homes."

Russia launched an offensive against Georgia on August 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists.

Moscow said it was protecting Russian citizens in the region from Georgian aggression, but Tbilisi accused Moscow of provoking the conflict in order to cement control over the region and destabilise Georgia's pro-Western government.

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