VIENNA, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - The former mayor of Stavropol in southwestern Russia, accused of corruption, was arrested Sunday at Vienna airport as he tried to enter the country, the local prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

Dmitry Kusmin 'was arrested under an international arrest warrant put out by Russia, which accuses him of embezzling 100,000 dollars in public funds,' Friederich Koehl, spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Korneuburg, near Vienna, told AFP, confirming a report in the daily Der Standard on Wednesday.

Kusmin, 42, has been placed in temporary custody for an initial period of 15 days, extendable for longer, while his case is being examined by the Austrian courts.

Russia now has one month to provide documents supporting its extradition request, Koehl said.

Der Standard reported Wednesday that Kusmin, who was elected in 2003 as mayor of Stavropol, a town of 350,000 people, had caused damage amounting to some 19 million rubles (521,000 euros, 805,500 dollars) and had three legal procedures running against him, mostly for alleged dodgy property dealings.

The daily also noted that Kusmin was shut out of November's parliamentary elections, in which he led his Just Russia party's, following a dispute with the local leader of then-President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

Koehl refused to comment Wednesday on potential political motivations for Kusmin's arrest warrant.

Austria generally allows extraditions to Russia, unless there are political factors.