A Russian court has sentenced a young mother and her brother to eight years in prison after they admitted putting the woman's nine-month-old son on a four-lane highway in the hope he would be killed.

A passing motorist rescued the child unharmed after about 10 minutes, and the boy has since been adopted by another family.

The Moscow Regional Court said 24-year-old Elena Osina and her 21-year-old brother pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the May 2011 incident.

In previously reported testimony, Osina said life had become hard with the baby - her parents, who they lived with, complained and her boyfriend had moved out.

After the verdict, Osina said on television she thought the sentence was too harsh, but admitted putting her baby on the highway was a "mistake".

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.