The grandfather of the new head of British intelligence MI6, Blaze Metreveli, was a Ukrainian and served in the German forces, reports Daily Mail citing archival data.
According to documents, Konstantin Dobrovolsky, a Ukrainian nicknamed "the Butcher," deserted from the Red Army and served in the German forces — first in an SS tank unit, then in intelligence. In particular, he participated in punitive operations against partisans and Jews.
The Metreveli family left the German-occupied Ukraine, while Dobrovolsky remained. Therefore, the new head of MI6 has never met her grandfather, writes Daily Mail. Her father, Konstantin Dobrovolsky Jr., was born in 1943 in Snovsk, Chernihiv Oblast. He later took the surname of his stepfather, David Metreveli, whom his mother married in 1947 in the UK.
A representative of the UK Foreign Office commented on this information to the publication: "Blaze Metreveli did not know and did not meet her paternal grandfather. Blaze's ancestry is characterized by conflicts and disagreements and, like many individuals of Eastern European descent, is known only partially."
47-year-old Metreveli will become the first woman to head MI6 in the entire history of British foreign intelligence. In her career, she has held senior leadership positions — both in MI6 and in the domestic security service MI5. She studied social anthropology at Cambridge (social anthropology is the science that studies human societies, cultures, and forms of social interaction; its main goal is to understand how people live together, build relationships, create traditions, and give meaning to their world), and has spent much time on operational deployments in the Middle East and Europe.
In her new position, Metreveli will succeed Richard Moore, who has led British foreign intelligence for nearly five years, since September 2020.
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