TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The Obama administration firmly supports Georgia, but President Mikhail Saakashvili must further encourage democracy, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.Speaking at a banquet in the glass-domed dining room of Saakashvili’s $40 million presidential offices, Biden pledged backing for the country one year after its armed forces were crushed in a war with Russia. He said he wanted to send “an unequivocal, clear message to all who will listen and some who don’t want to listen, that America stands with you and will continue to stand.” This was a reference to Russia, which claims a sphere of influence over Georgia and resents its efforts to integrate more closely with the West. Biden, who flew to Georgia from Ukraine, is on a mission to reassure both former Soviet republics that the United States will not abandon them as President Barack Obama seeks to improve badly strained ties with Russia. Georgia’s five-day war with Russia last August turned the small nation on the far frontier of Europe into the epicenter of the simmering conflict between Moscow and the West. Obama’s attempt to rebuild relations with Russia has raised concerns among some East European nations that the U.S. might sacrifice their interests for the sake of better ties with Moscow. Biden has been attempting to assuage those concerns on his four-day trip. “As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine, and we recognize no sphere of influence or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes,” Biden said in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, earlier Wednesday. Biden received a hero’s welcome in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, where flag-waving Georgians lined the streets as his motorcade passed by. They held signs saying “Don’t Forget Us” and “No to occupation” — a reference to the Russian troops still stationed in two breakaway Georgian regions. The motorcade also passed George W. Bush Street, marked by a large sign with the former U.S. president’s picture.