Switzerland says it is 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 said on Thursday in an email.
The full decision, which would be published Friday, obliged Swiss banks to show increased vigilance when it comes to Ukrainian funds, he added.
Asked whether Yanukovych or his entourage would be blocked from receiving visas to Switzerland, the foreign ministry spokesman would only say that "Switzerland is following very closely the situation in Ukraine."
Yanukovych, who is wanted for "mass murder" after three months of protests against his rule spilled into clashes that left nearly 100 dead, said in a statement Thursday he was still Ukraine's head of state.
It is unclear whether Yanukovych himself has funds in Switzerland, but his son Olexander opened a branch of his Management Assets Company (MAKO) in Geneva in late 2011.
The 40-year-old dentist and businessman has amassed a personal fortune of around half a billion dollars (some 365 million euros) in the past three years alone, according to a report in the Swiss weekly L'Hebdo.
His Ukrainian conglomerate reportedly controls nearly half of that country's coal production, and around a third of its electricity production and distribution.
