Swiss state broadcaster RTS quoted the foreign ministry as saying Swiss authorities kept in contact with both sides and that it considers all requests for mediation in the issue, though the official confirmation from Swiss officials has not been received yet.
However, a source in the Spanish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik later in the day that Spanish authorities have denied media reports claiming that Switzerland plans to act as a mediator in the Catalonia crisis.
"We refute this," the source said when asked to comment on the RTS reports.
Meanwhile, Tilman Renz, the spokesman of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), told Sputnik that while Switzerland was in touch with both Madrid and Barcelona, no conditions had been established for Bern's role as a mediator in Madrid-Catalonia negotiations.
"Facilitation of dialogue could only be provided if both sides ask for it. Switzerland is in contact with both parties but conditions for our work are not yet in place," Renz said.
The spokesman stressed that the referendum in Catalonia was an Spanish domestic matter, adding that Switzerland respected Spain's sovereignty.
On Monday, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said mediation of third forces was necessary to settle the differences between Barcelona and Madrid.
Spain's autonomous region is locked in a standoff with Madrid, which does not recognize the independence referendum held in Catalonia on Sunday. According to the Catalan authorities, slightly more than 2 million people out of 5.3 million of those eligible to vote cast their ballots, and 90 percent of them backed independence. Almost 900 people had to seek medical help because of the clashes between referendum supporters and the police on the day of the vote.
Earlier in the day Enric Millo, the Spanish government's official representative in Catalonia, apologized for police violence during the Catalonian referendum. On the day of the referendum, the National Guard and National Police arrived in Barcelona and tried to thwart the vote.
Catalonia has been seeking independence from Spain for years. On November 9, 2014, about 80 percent of the Catalans who took part in a non-binding referendum on the region's status as part of Spain voted in favor of Catalonia becoming an independent state. The vote was, however, ruled unconstitutional by the authorities in Madrid.
On June 9, the president of the autonomous region, Carles Puigdemont, said that Catalonia would hold a unilateral referendum on independence on October 1, 2017, prompting criticism from Madrid.
