By James Kilner
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian president Vladimir Putin has wona Nobel prize.
Not the better-known Nobel Peace Prize handed out by theOslo-based committee to luminaries such as last Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev or ex-South African President Nelson Mandela.
Instead, Putin has won the Ludvig Nobel Prize for servicesto Russia -- an award organized by Russian businessmen andartists which, apart from shared historical roots, has noconnection to today's Nobel Peace Prize.
"Under the previous president, (Boris) Yeltsin, there waschaos and lawlessness," Yevgeny Lukoshkov, who heads the LudvigNobel Prize's selection committee, told Reuters.
"Somebody had to stand up and take responsibility and stopthe robberies and murders. Putin took responsibility for eightyears."
Putin, 55, leaves office next month after eight years inwhich he has become Russia's most popular politician.
Most Russians credit him with overseeing the longesteconomic boom in a generation, creating political stability andrestoring the country's standing on the world stage. A minorityaccuse Putin of trampling on democratic freedoms.
"He was very pleased to win," Lukoshkov said. "But hecouldn't make it to the ceremony. I don't know why."
Ludvig Nobel, who lived mainly in St Petersburg and becamea Russian citizen, was older brother of Alfred Nobel -- founderof the Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine andliterature in Stockholm and the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
Like his brother, Ludvig made huge profits in the 19thcentury by extracting oil from the coastline around the Azericapital Baku. He is also credited with inventing the oiltanker.
In 1888, seven years after Ludvig Nobel's death theImperial Russian Technology Society established the LudvigNobel prize -- an act which some historians say inspired AlfredNobel to establish his own prizes in his will nearly ten yearslater.
The 1917 Bolshevik revolution ended the Ludvig Nobel prizebut four years ago Lukoshkov and others decided to reinstateit.
"It's a prize for well-known people who have personallyworked in their lives to make Russia a better place," he said.
Unlike the Nobel Peace Prize, which comes with a fatcheque, there is no cash award for the Ludvig Nobel prize.
"We decided that you can't measure everything with money,"Lukoshkov said.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)