GENEVA - The United States and Russia have assigned high-level delegations to European Union-sponsored talks aimed at promoting security in Georgia under the cease-fire that ended this summer's brief war in the former Soviet republic, officials said Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of StateDaniel Fried will head a three-member delegation at the one-day talks in Geneva on Wednesday, said Dick Wilbur, spokesman for the American mission to U.N. organizations in Geneva.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin arrived Tuesday, said an official of the Russian mission, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't an authorized press spokesman.

The talks are aimed at following up on the cease-fire mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that ended the Russian-Georgian war in August.

Originally the talks were expected to bring ministers to Geneva for substantive discussions, but diplomats said it was downgraded to expert level because of differences over the participation of representatives from breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The U.S. and Russian delegations, however, are considerably higher than expert level.

The talks will cover "security and stability arrangements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in keeping with the cease-fire," Wilbur said. "The talks will address compliance with the cease-fire, security issues, the return of internally displaced persons and human rights."

European diplomats said the talks will start a process of dialogue rather than aim at a specific conclusion or statement.

The five-day war erupted Aug. 7 when Georgian forces launched an attack seeking to regain control of South Ossetia. Russian troops repelled the offensive and then drove deep into other parts of Georgia. Soon after the fighting ended, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

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Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Eliane Engeler and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.

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