New MI6 Chief Faces Controversy Over Grandfather's Nazi Spy Past: "No Knowledge at All"

Nicknamed "the Butcher" and Marked with a Bounty
Foreign Office: "Unrelated to the Individual... Never Met"

Reports have emerged that the grandfather of Blaise Mettrawelly, 47, who has been appointed as the new chief of the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), was a notorious Nazi spy during World War II.

On the 27th (local time), the British tabloid Daily Mail reported that Mettrawelly's paternal grandfather, Konstantin Dobrowolski, was a Nazi collaborator during World War II. Dobrowolski, who was of German, Polish, and Ukrainian descent, initially served in the Soviet Red Army but later acted as a Nazi informant in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine. Records from that time show that the German military referred to him as "the Butcher" or "Agent 30." Dobrowolski rose to the position of regional intelligence chief, and the Soviet authorities labeled him "the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people," placing a bounty of 50,000 rubles on his head (equivalent to 200,000 pounds, or about 375 million won, in today's value).

Blaise Mettrawelly appointed as the new chief of the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Photo by AFP Yonhap News

In 1943, as the German army retreated and the Soviets advanced into Ukraine, he sent his wife, Barbara, and their two-month-old son, Konstantin, to Germany for safety, while he remained in Chernihiv. After the war, Barbara moved to the United Kingdom, remarried David Mettrawelly, who was originally from Georgia, and Konstantin took his stepfather's surname. Konstantin, the father of Blaise Mettrawelly, served as a radiologist in the British military.

After reports surfaced about Mettrawelly's grandfather being a Nazi collaborator, the Foreign Office issued a statement clarifying that this was "an issue unrelated to the individual."

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office stated, "Mettrawelly has never met nor known her paternal grandfather," adding, "As with many people of Eastern European descent, her understanding of her ancestry is only partial." The spokesperson continued, "Because of this complex legacy, Mettrawelly is all the more committed to preventing conflict within MI6 and to protecting the British people from the threats posed by today's hostile states."

Mettrawelly is set to become the first female chief (codename 'C') in MI6's 116-year history, with her inauguration scheduled for October 1. She studied anthropology at Cambridge University and joined MI6 in 1999. Over the past 26 years, she has worked as a field operations officer and intelligence manager in both MI6 and the domestic security service (MI5). She has undertaken extensive assignments in the Middle East and Europe, including in war zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and currently serves as the head of technology?referred to as 'Q'?within MI6.