Putin submits requests during call with Erdogan

On Thursday afternoon, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan and told him what were Russia's exact demands for a peace agreement with Ukraine.

Within half an hour after the call ended, The BBC interviewed Erdogan's adviser and chief spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin. Kalin was part of the small group of officials who had heard the call.

Russian demands are divided into two categories.

The first four demands, according to Kalin, are not too difficult to meet by Ukraine.

The main one among them is accession from Ukraine that it should be neutral and should not apply to join NATO. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has already acknowledged this.

There are other demands in this category, which most appear to be elements to save the Russian side's face.

Ukraine would have to undergo a disarmament process to ensure that it was not a threat to Russia. There should be protection for Russian in Ukraine. And there's something called "denasification."

This is deeply offensive to Zelensky, who is himself Jewish and some of whose relatives died in Holocaust, but the Turkish side believes it will be easy enough for Zelensky to accept. It may be enough for Ukraine to condemn all forms of neo-nazim and promise to crush them.

The second category is where the challenge lies and in his call, Putin said it would take face-to-face negotiations between him and Zelensky before agreement on these points is reached. Zelensky has already said he is prepared to meet with the Russian president and negotiate with him one by one.

Kalin was far less specific about these issues, simply saying they included the status of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, parts of which have already been cut off from Ukraine and stressed their status.

Although Kalin did not go into detail, Russia is supposed to demand that the Ukrainian government give up territory in eastern Ukraine. This will be deeply questionable.

The other assumption is that Russia will demand Ukraine formally accept that the Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, truly belongs to Russia. If so, it will be a bitter pill for Ukraine to swallow.

However, it is a fact done, even though Russia has no legal right to own the Crimea and actually signed an international treaty after the fall of communism, but before Vladimir Putin came to power, acknowledging that the Crimea was part of Ukraine.

Putin's demands, however, are not so severe that some people were afraid and hardly seem to be worth all the violence, bloodshed, and destruction Russia has committed in Ukraine.

Given his severe control over Russian media, it should not be very difficult for him and his associates to present all of this as a great victory.

For Ukraine, however, there will be serious concerns.

If the fine details of any agreement are not resolved with extraordinary care, Putin or his descendants may always use them as an excuse to invade Ukraine again.

A peace agreement may take a long time to resolve, even if a ceasefire stops bloodshed already.

Ukraine has suffered terribly in recent weeks, and rebuilding the cities Russia has damaged and destroyed will take a long time. So will the reassertion of millions of refugees who have fled their homes.