GENEVA: Russia and Georgia embark on fresh talks in Geneva Wednesday set to be dominated by the arrest of Georgians in South Ossetia, the breakaway Georgian region at the centre of the war between the two countries.

Delegations from the two sides, as well as from South Ossetia and the second breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia, will meet at the United Nations in the Swiss city for talks dedicated to security and displaced people.

It will be the eighth round of the discussions which started after the five-day war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. The negotiations are resuming after a pause of almost two months.

The talks are backed by the European Union, the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

High on the agenda will be "repeated detentions", notably by South Ossetia, a European diplomatic source told AFP.

Questions will be raised about the fate of four Georgian teenagers held in South Ossetia since November 4, said head of the Georgian delegation Giga Bokeria ahead of the discussions.

The four youths, aged 14 to 17, were arrested in South Ossetia's main city Tskhinvali allegedly armed with grenades and other explosives, according to the separatist region's administration.

The four have been charged with carrying explosives and crossing the border illegally.

Georgia has accused the separatist administration of "kidnapping" the boys from a village near the de facto border with South Ossetia.

European Union ceasefire monitors also expressed "profound concerns" over the arrest of the youths.

Bokeria said the detention of the boys was "alarming and tragic" and added: "This is part of the security issues we are dealing with".

"The existing security architecture provides no possibility for protecting human rights," he said.

Two similar incidents occurred at the end of October. In the separate incidents, Russian border guards arrested 21 Georgians who had allegedly crossed into South Ossetian-controlled territory.

They were eventually released after talks with Georgian and European officials.

Tensions remain high between Georgia and Russia around 15 months on from the August 2008 war, with accusations regularly flying between Moscow and Tbilisi.

On Tuesday, as both sides prepared to meet for the latest round of talks, Russia's top military commander accused Georgia of rearming.

Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian armed forces' general staff, was quoted by news agencies as saying arms sales to Georgia meant the country's military was better armed now than during the August 2008 war.