Swiss President Didier Burkhalter on Wednesday called on arch-foes Azerbaijan and Armenia to revitalize stalled negotiations on resolving their decades-long conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

"The status quo is not really an option. We have to move to peace step by step," Burkhalter -- who is also chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- told a news conference in Yerevan.

Switzerland announced Friday that it had added the names of 15 top Russian officials and pro-Moscow separatists to a blacklist of individuals seen as prime movers in the Ukraine crisis.

The move by Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, matched the sanctions imposed against the same individuals by Brussels on Monday.

Switzerland said on Friday it will hand over to Tunisia $40 million (29 million euros) stashed in Swiss bank accounts by the family of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Swiss authorities had frozen the funds as part of a probe launched following the revolution that forced the longstanding Tunisian leader from power in 2011.

The Palestinian Authority has signed up formally to the Geneva Conventions, which set down the rules of warfare and humanitarian operations in conflict zones, the treaties' guardian Switzerland confirmed Friday.

Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told AFP that the Palestinian Authority had declared itself party to the conventions on April 2.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday traveled to Switzerland on a five-day official visit, reiterating his call for the election of an “honorably” strong president.

Al-Rahi, who headed to Geneva, was accompanied by Bishop Boulos Matar and Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad.

Former Russian oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, freed after a decade in prison in Russia, has been granted a one-year resident permit in Switzerland, migration authorities said Sunday.

"His application was approved," migration office Martin Reichlin, a spokesman for the Federal Migration Office, told Agence France Presse.

Switzerland on Wednesday decided not to impose sanctions against Russia for its seizure of Crimea, claiming it wanted to find a "balance" between international law and Swiss interests.

"The position of our country is independent of the U.N.," Swiss president Didier Burkhalter told a press conference in Bern, saying Switzerland can only use sanctions when they are based upon "international law and the interests of the Swiss".

Switzerland, which led a push to block assets of ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and others, has frozen the holdings of nine more individuals including one of his sons.

Swiss authorities, which last month ordered a freeze on the assets of Yanukovych, his coal magnate son Oleksandr and 18 other Ukrainians, published an order late on Monday extending their net.

Swiss authorities said Friday they have launched a criminal probe into alleged money laundering by ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and his multi-millionaire son.

The government also announced it was freezing the assets of 20 Ukranian officials, including Yanukovych and his son Olexandr and a number of former ministers in his government.

Switzerland said Thursday it was prepared to freeze any funds Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych might have in Swiss banks.

The Swiss government has decided "in principle to freeze any possible funds Mr Yanukovych may have in Switzerland", foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told Agence France Presse in an email.