The US State Department on Wednesday welcomed what it called the first real talks between Russia and Georgia over breakaway Georgian regions that erupted into a five-day war in August.

`I think it was a first step,` spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington following the Russian-Georgian meeting in Geneva.

He recalled that Russian and Georgian delegates failed in Geneva last month to even sit down in the same room amid disagreements on the presence of representatives from Georgian rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

`So it`s a positive step,` McCormack said. `And now these discussions have taken place. So I would characterize them as an initial round of discussions.`

This time all parties agreed to informal sessions which allowed the presence of representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Moscow-backed regions which were at the center of the August 8-12 conflict, officials said.

Officials expected the talks to resume next month after discussing security and refugees on Wednesday.

Georgia had objected to delegations from South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- whose independence has been recognized by Moscow -- because Tbilisi insists they are still part of Georgian sovereign territory.

Russian troops and tanks rolled into Georgia on August 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.

Russia has since withdrawn from most of Georgia in line with an EU-brokered ceasefire but Tbilisi is furious at the continued presence of 7,600 Russian troops in South Ossetia and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