In a shocking revelation, it has been reported that Blaise Metreweli, slated to become the next chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) of UK in autumn 2025, has a very disturbing family history.
German wartime archives reveal that her paternal grandfather, Constantine Dobrowolski—also known as “Agent No 30” or chillingly, “The Butcher”—defected from the Soviet Red Army in 1941 and became a chief spy and enforcer for Nazi Germany in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine
He led a 300‑man police unit aiding the Nazis in massacres of Jewish civilians and Ukrainian partisans. Archival letters, some signed “Heil Hitler,” indicate Dobrowolski personally participated in mass executions, looted Jewish victims, and even “laughed while watching the sexual assault of female prisoners”
The Soviet government condemned him as “the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people,” placing a 50,000‑rouble bounty—equivalent to over £200,000 today—for his capture Documents last place him in August 1943; his fate afterward remains unknown
Nazi connections
According to reports in the The Daily Mail, Documents stored in Freiburg, Germany, reveal that Constantine Dobrowolski, was a key intelligence asset to Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Originally from Ukraine, Dobrowolski defected from the Red Army after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Within weeks of crossing lines, he began collaborating with the Wehrmacht and other Nazi units, including the Geheime Feldpolizei — Hitler’s notorious secret military police.
His allegiance to the Nazi regime was not financially motivated — he earned the equivalent of a modest sum of £250 per month in today’s money — but instead appeared deeply rooted in ideological revenge against the Soviets.
Following the Bolshevik revolution, his family estate had been seized, and several relatives were killed. This history of dispossession and repression seems to have driven his anti-Soviet resolve.
Eyewitness accounts in the archives describe looting, physical abuse and acts of sexual violence connected to the units under Dobrowolski’s control.
One witness testified that a subordinate gave him “a gold watch” looted from a murdered civilian and that Dobrowolski’s residence contained valuables such as “carpets, tablecloths, silk shawls, and a luxurious fur coat” taken from the bodies of Jewish victims.
His role was later formalised in July 1942 when he was integrated into the Geheime Feldpolizei. Under their command, Dobrowolski participated in anti-partisan operations that targeted political opponents and Jewish populations for summary execution.
As Soviet forces pushed westward in 1943, Dobrowolski arranged a travel pass to extract his wife Varvara and son from Snovsk to Uman, hoping to secure their evacuation from the approaching front. What happened to him thereafter is not known.
New UK chief background
His granddaughter and now the new intelligence chief Blaise Metreweli, has been a former Cambridge anthropology student (Pembroke College, BA 1998), joined MI6 in 1999 and has held key technological and operational roles in Europe and the Middle East.
She is now the first woman to take the role of the MI6 intelligence chief.
Government officials stressed that Metreweli never knew her grandfather. Born in wartime Ukraine, her father never met Dobrowolski and was later raised by a stepfather, David Metreweli, in Britain and Hong Kong
Foreign Office spokesperson emphasized that “Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather,” noting that her family’s traumatic history informed—not defined—her commitment to British national security.
Observers say her ancestry highlights the tangled histories faced by many with Eastern European roots. Still, supporters argue Metreweli’s own record—marked by expertise in counterintelligence, innovation, and leadership—speaks louder than familial legacy.
At her first press briefing following her appointment on June 15, officials reaffirmed: she brings a distinguished, self-made career to the role, unconnected to her ancestral sins.
