Biggar sales executive “smells freedom” in Kiev

A MAN who was caught up in the crisis in Ukraine said he could “smell the freedom” as he visited Kiev’s Independence Square.
SFCG Kyiv-20140305-00201SFCG Kyiv-20140305-00201
SFCG Kyiv-20140305-00201

Sales executive George Johnston was on a trip to Eastern Europe working for Biggar textile company Calzeat.

After spending a week in Moscow, George (51) made the decision to travel to Kiev despite the crisis escalating with daily gun battles and the departure of President Viktor Yanukovych.

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Having held talks with a number of Ukrainian companies, potential customers, George along with Ukrainian contact and interpreter Iryna Vasylkova then travelled to the city’s main square to see for himself what was going on.

George said: “You could almost smell the freedom. All the locals in Kiev were down there giving the protesters food. The people want the world to know what happened there.”

“We were also invited into a top designer shop which had been converted into a field hospital.

“The doctor who was working there gave me a list three pages long of people who hadn’t made it. There were 75 names on it and it was a mix of ages from 16 up to mid-50s.”

For more on George’s fascinating trip to Kiev, don’t miss this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is out now.