Finland’s former Prime Minister has said that Finland and Sweden could apply to join NATO within weeks as a result of Vladimir Putin’s “aggression” and shore up their security against any possible attack.

Alexander Stubbs tweeted, “In the beginning of the war I said that Putin’s aggression will drive Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership.

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“I said it was not a matter of days or weeks, but months. Time to revise: Finland will apply within weeks, latest May.”

He added, “Sweden to follow, or at the same time.”

The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that if they join the Alliance then they “will look to rebalance the situation,” he added, that “NATO is tailored for confrontation.

A senior official from the US State Department said on Thursday that the possibility of Finland and Sweden joining NATO was discussed between foreign ministers of NATO in Brussels.

The official said, “Obviously this is going to be those countries’ choices to make.

“The alliance’s door remains open and there was discussion about that potential candidacy.”

On Thursday, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters after attending the meeting in Brussels and said the his country will clarify next steps over the coming weeks in regard to NATO membership.

Haavisto added, “There is an important NATO summit in Madrid in June.

The Kremlin spokesperson said, “And so we have to rebalance this situation and we have to take additional measure to ensure our own security because we’re still convinced that NATO is a machine for confrontation, it’s not a peaceful alliance.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation but we have to take it into account.”

He added, “We’ll have to make our western flank more sophisticated in terms of ensuring our security.”