Georgia's foreign minister is in Moscow for the first high-level talks between Russia and Georgia since a bitter confrontation broke out between the ex-Soviet neighbours.
Russia has severed transport links with Georgia in a row fuelled by smouldering tensions over Tbilisi's drive to join Nato and the European Union and disputes about two separatist regions of Georgia which are supported by Moscow.
Underlining the tension, one of the separatist regions, South Ossetia, said it had killed four mercenaries sent by Tbilisi to stir up trouble before a November 12th referendum. Tbilisi rejected the accusation as "misinformation."
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili is due to hold meetings in Moscow tomorrow and Thursday on the sidelines of a regional conference. He flew to Russia via neighbouring Azerbaijan because Moscow has severed direct air links.
Igor Ivanov, secretary of Russia's Security Council, said he would meet Mr Bezhuashvili, as would Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"We welcome any dialogue, so the visit and his meetings in Moscow are a good signal," Mr Ivanov told a news conference.
"But you are not going to solve the problems with meetings alone. The most important thing is what Mr Bezhaushvili brings with him. ... If it (Tbilisi) changes its policies then the atmosphere in our relations will get better."
The row between Tbilisi and Moscow, sparked initially by Tbilisi's brief arrest in September of four Russian soldiers on spying charges, has dragged their already-fraught relations to an unprecedented low.
Moscow has ignored Western calls to lift its sanctions and rebuffed concerns expressed after it deported hundreds of Georgians living in Russia.
Many analysts fear the stand-off could be building towards a new crisis when people in South Ossetia - a tiny strip of land near Georgia's border with Russia - vote on November 12th to confirm their de facto independence.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another Georgian breakaway region, shook off Tbilisi's rule in fighting in the 1990s. Moscow supports the region and most residents are Russian passport holders and Russian peacekeeping troops are based there.
Mr Ivanov said the referendum - almost certain to produce a huge majority in favour of independence - should "send an important signal to Tbilsi." The European Union has said the referendum is meaningless.
Boris Chochiev, South Ossetian emergencies minister, said today that separatist forces had killed four Chechens trying to carry out sabotage operations.
"They got into the territory of South Ossetia from Georgia's Pankisi Gorge," Chochiev said. "We know that Georgians recruit Chechens for terrorist acts in South Ossetia."
Last month a helicopter carrying Georgia's defence minister was hit by gunfire as it flew over South Ossetia and a shoot-out between police killed three South Ossetians and one Georgian.