The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Mikheil Saakashvili had a particular significance amid the currently strained relations following an espionage scandal, territorial disagreements and Russia's economic sanctions.
"We met face-to-face and discussed problems in Russian-Georgian relations," Saakashvili said in London where he is on a one-day visit. "Though many thought the meeting would not take place, dialogue has begun."
The Kremlin said ahead of the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that negotiations with Saakashvili had not been on Putin's agenda as Georgia had made little effort to arrange the meeting.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who attended the CIS summit in Minsk, said the two leaders had exchanged opinions but in the presence of the other presidents.
Putin said he had talked with nearly all his CIS counterparts.
"I spoke with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and had a more detailed conversation with the Moldovan leader," he said.
Saakashvili said meetings with the Russian president would be initiated by Georgia from now on.
"The meeting with President Putin was our initiative and it will be so in the future because we need a regular dialogue with Russia," he said.
"Such meetings should continue in the future but they will be above all guided by Georgia's interests," he said. "Russian-Georgian relations are entering a different dimension."
The West-educated Georgian leader said his country remained committed to integration with Europe and NATO.
"Georgia has become an important country for many other nations, and world leaders express support for it again," he said in a reference to encouraging statements about Georgia made at the NATO summit in Riga Tuesday.
In his comments on Russian gas supplies to Georgia, Saakashvili said the Georgian economy would not collapse without Russian gas imports.
Now that Russia is seeking to double the gas price for Georgia, the country is looking to diversify its gas imports, including through contacts with gas-rich Azerbaijan and Iran.
"I talked with my Azerbaijani colleague Ilham Aliyev, and this winter will be a historical example of Georgian-Azerbaijani brotherhood," he said.
Saakashvili is currently in Britain to attend trading at the London Stock Exchange where Georgia's leading commercial bank, Bank of Georgia, is holding an initial public offering Wednesday.
