THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS: The International Criminal Court says a prosecutor wants to open an investigation into the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, which would be the tribunal's first full-scale probe outside Africa.

The court said Thursday that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is seeking a full investigation because her preliminary examination found "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed during the brief war in which hundreds were killed. Three judges will consider the prosecutor's request.

The prosecutor has been conducting a preliminary examination into the war since August 2008.

Georgia fully lost control of its breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the war, and accuses Russia of pressuring weaker neighbors who are courting the West. Moscow now subsidizes and deploys troops in the two regions and recognizes them as independent states.