Finland will clarify the next steps regarding a possible decision to join NATO in the coming weeks, the country's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters.

His remarks came after attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Since the start of the crisis in Ukraine, opinion polls commissioned by Finnish media have shown a rapid reversal of public opinion in Finland, with a majority now in favor of joining US-led NATO.

Finland, a member country of the European Union, shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.

Haavisto said that "Russia is willing to take increasing risks in its military operations, can quickly mobilize more than 100,000 soldiers against a neighboring country, and has mooted more openly than before the possible use of its nuclear and biological weapons.

There we come to a situation in which we may need cooperation," Haavisto said, alluding to NATO.

He added that NATO member countries have offered to help Finland with security during the application process and said they estimate it will take four months to one year to approve the application.

"There is an important NATO summit in Madrid in June. Of course NATO is wondering whether Finland and possibly Sweden will have submitted their membership applications before that," Haavisto said.

Finland regularly participates in defense exercises with neighboring countries Sweden and Norway, is a member of the British-led JEF force and joined NATO's enhanced capabilities program in 2014 along with Sweden, Australia, Georgia and Jordan.