Switzerland will not blindly copy any of the sanctions imposed by the EU or the US, said its president Didier Burkhalter.

      In an interview to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he focused on the need to preserve confidence and offered to play the role of a mediator between Russia and the West.

      Switzerland will take time to let the tension subside, and after that make an unbiased decision, he was quoted as saying.

      The spat over Crimea has prompted the Western leaders to cool their relations with Russian, imposing a travel ban and asset freezes against a narrow group of Russian officials.

      In the latest move, Japan has introduced sanctions against Moscow in an attempt to further isolate the country.

      According to the statement by Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Tokio regrets Moscow’s decision to recognize the independence of Crimea.

      Japan will suspend consultations on easing the visa regime and talks on three treaties that would have expanded bilateral cooperation in investment, space exploration and defense.

      Earlier, the US and the EU imposed a raft of sanctions on individuals, including seven Russian government officials — presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, presidential advisor Sergey Glazyev, head of State Duma’s CIS committee Leonid Slutsky, head of the Federation Council’s Constitutional Legislation committee Andrey Klishas, speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, vice-premier Dmitry Rogozin and head of State Duma’s committee for the affairs of family, women and children Yelena Mizulina.

      The list also includes four Ukrainians, including the country’s former president Viktor Yanukovich, former chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk, and Crimea’s newly-elected leader Sergey Aksyonov and head of the republic’s legislature Vladimir Konstantinov.

      The US is expected to freeze their assets and impose a visa ban.

      The UK has also suspended military cooperation with Russia following a similar decision by Canada and the US.

      Earlier, Russia-IC reported that nine Russian soldiers have been expelled from Canada following a spat between the two countries over the Ukraine crisis.

      According to Canada’s CTV News, the soldiers taking part in military exercises were informed Thursday afternoon that they had 24 hours to leave Canada.