Biden pledges America's full support for Georgia on the way to democracy

US Vice President Joe Biden has pledged Washington's strong support for Georgia a year after its war with Russia, urging Moscow to abide by a ceasefire and pull its troops back from two rebel regions, Reuters writes.

But in a shift from the uncritical support offered to Tbilisi by former president George W. Bush, Biden balanced his remarks with criticism of Georgia's record on democracy and media freedom under pro-US President Mikhail Saakashvili.

"We the United States stand by you on your journey to a secure, free, democratic and once again united Georgia," Biden said in an emotional speech to the Georgian parliament.

"I know there is some concern, and I understand it, that our efforts to reset relations with Russia will come at the expense of Georgia. Let me be clear: they have not, they will not and they cannot," he said.

Biden called on the world not to follow Russia in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, but told Georgian lawmakers that there was "no military option" for winning the two regions back.

Washington is sensitive to criticism that the Bush administration overlooked Saakashvili's failings on democracy and may have allowed Tbilisi to draw the wrong conclusions about possible US backing, before it launched the August 2008 assault on South Ossetia which triggered Russia's invasion.

"Your Rose Revolution will only be complete when government is transparent, accountable and fully participatory," Biden said, referring to the uprising which brought Saakashvili to power and opposition fears its democratic ideals have been lost.