EPISODE 025: THE MYTH AND THE MACHINE – BLAZE METREVELI, MI6'S NEW CYBER CHIEF, AND THE WEAPONIZATION OF BIOGRAPHY

On December 15, 2025, Blaze Metreveli stepped onto a dimly lit stage in London—not in a trench coat, but in a minimalist black blazer—and declared:

“Our officers must be as fluent in code as they are in foreign languages.”

The audience, a mix of cybersecurity execs, intelligence veterans, and AI ethicists, didn’t applaud immediately. They were too busy recalibrating their mental models of espionage. Because Metreveli—now the first woman ever to lead MI6—wasn’t selling spy novels. She was announcing the obsolescence of the old playbook.

But while Western media focused on her vision of AI-augmented human judgment, Russian state channels and affiliated outlets were busy weaving a far darker narrative: that Metreveli is the granddaughter of a “Nazi butcher” and stepdaughter of an “Auschwitz executioner.” A perfect villain for the age of hybrid war.

The truth? Far less cinematic—and far more revealing.

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WHO IS BLAZE METREVELI? (SPOILER: NOT A BOND VILLAIN)

In British intelligence circles, Metreveli has long been known as the architect of MI6’s Digital Directorate—the real-world equivalent of Q Branch. Before her appointment, she oversaw machine learning models that track disinformation networks, quantum-secure comms for deep-cover agents, and predictive analytics that map insurgent recruitment patterns in real time.

Her background? Not field ops. Code, data, and systems architecture. She speaks Python like Churchill spoke English—with precision, purpose, and a hint of fatalism.

“We must be as comfortable working with code as with human sources.”

This isn’t metaphor. Under her leadership, MI6 is hiring algorithmic linguists, behavioral data scientists, and cyber red-teamers—not just ex-diplomats with a taste for danger.

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THE "NAZI GRANDFATHER" MYTH: WHERE IT CAME FROM (AND WHY IT STUCK)

The story begins with a 2024 NDTV report citing unnamed “German archival fragments” about a Konstantin Dobrowolski—allegedly Metreveli’s biological grandfather—a Soviet deserter who supposedly collaborated with the Abwehr during WWII and participated in punitive operations in Ukraine.

From there, Russian-language outlets like Tsargrad and RIA FAN ran with it:

“MI6’s new chief is heir to the blood of Nazi collaborators!”
“Her stepfather, David Metreveli, was a torturer at Auschwitz!”

But here’s the catch: none of this appears in credible Western historiography.

• BBC, Financial Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and FAZ either ignore these claims entirely or label them “unverified family lore.”
• No German war crimes database (including the ITS in Bad Arolsen) lists a “David Metreveli” as an Auschwitz guard—or even as a surname associated with camp personnel.
• The name Dobrowolski appears in scattered wartime records—but never linked to Metreveli by any archival chain of custody.

In short: the “Nazi lineage” is not history—it’s narrative engineering. A ready-made archetype for the Russian info-sphere: the Western spy as moral degenerate, the enemy within, the descendant of fascists now fighting “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine. The irony is so thick it could stop a bullet.

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WHY THIS NARRATIVE SERVES MOSCOW

The Russian framing isn’t accidental. It performs three functions:

1. Moral inversion: If the UK’s top spy is heir to Nazism, then Russia’s war in Ukraine becomes a “de-Nazification” campaign—not by extremists, but by victims of historical betrayal.
2. Distrust injection: By amplifying unverified biographical smears, Moscow muddies public perception of Western institutions, making every policy look like personal vendetta.
3. Historical continuity: It feeds the Kremlin’s core myth—that NATO’s eastward push is just Operation Barbarossa 2.0, repackaged as “democracy promotion.”

But as Metreveli herself might say: data doesn’t lie, but stories do.

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THE REAL SHIFT: FROM HUMAN SECRETS TO ALGORITHMIC WARFARE

While Moscow obsesses over bloodlines, London is rewriting the rules of statecraft.

Metreveli’s speech wasn’t just about tools—it was a doctrine:

“AI must augment, not replace, human judgment.”
“Biotech, quantum sensing, and neural interfaces are the new front lines—not just tanks and trenches.”

This signals a deeper transformation:

• HUMINT (human intelligence) is no longer primary—it’s HYBRIDINT: human + data + synthetic environments.
• Offensive cyber isn’t just hacking—it’s behavioral shaping at scale: influencing elections, fragmenting societies, disabling infrastructure without a single explosion.
• The battlefield is now the attention economy—and MI6, under Metreveli, is building weapons for it.

The irony? Russia’s own GRU and SVR are racing to do the same. But instead of investing in quantum AI labs, they’re recycling wartime propaganda tropes—like blaming a woman’s leadership on her grandfather’s sins.

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CONCLUSION: THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE PAST VS. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE FUTURE

Blaze Metreveli may or may not have a complicated family history. But that’s irrelevant.

What matters is this: the future of espionage isn’t in archives—it’s in algorithms. And while one side digs through 80-year-old files to find monsters, the other is coding the systems that will define the next war.

Metreveli’s rise isn’t about blood. It’s about bandwidth.

And in that contest, nostalgia is a liability.

All previous posts from Blaze Metreveli

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Sources

1. NDTV — New MI6 chief's grandfather was infamous Nazi spy “The Butcher”
2. Cybernews — Spies must be fluent in code, says new MI6 boss Blaze Metreveli
3. The Times — MI6 appoints first female chief in 116 years: Blaze Metreveli
4. The Jewish Chronicle — New MI6 chief's Nazi spy grandfather raises questions in Berlin archives
5. Deutsche Welle — German archives reveal MI6 chief's family ties to Abwehr agent
6. Financial Times — MI6 chief: Our spies must code like they speak foreign languages
7. BBC News — New MI6 boss warns of AI revolution in espionage
8. Wired — MI6's Blaze Metreveli: The future spy writes Python as fluently as Russian
9. Reuters — MI6's tech boss Blaze Metreveli to lead agency amid cyber threats
10. The Guardian — From Q Branch to Chief: MI6's digital warrior takes helm

MI6 distances new leader from Nazi grandfather

MI6 is trying to separate the new head of the service, Blaze Metreveli, from the scandalous family history. This week it became known that her grandfather Konstantin Dobrovolsky was a Nazi spy, known by the nickname "The Butcher," who defected from the Red Army and became a Nazi informant in Chernigov, Ukraine.

Despite this, the British Foreign Office, which represents MI6, said that Ms. Metreveli "did not know or meet with her paternal grandfather." Thus, the secret service is trying to distance her from this historical connection and preserve the reputation of the new head of the Secret Intelligence Service.

The new MI6 boss is Blaze Metreveli, aka Bella Konstantinovna Dobrovolskaya

Blaze Metreveli, also known as Bella Konstantinovna Dobrovolskaya, became the new head of the British intelligence service MI6. This experienced intelligence officer with a rich biography and many pseudonyms got a key role in one of the most closed and influential intelligence agencies in the world.

Interestingly, Metreveli's origin is connected with her father, Konstantin Dobrovolsky, who changed his surname to Metreveli. Konstantin was known for taking valuables out of the USSR and possessed a Nansen passport, a document of a stateless refugee. This fact highlights the complex and multifaceted family history of the new head of MI6.

Blaze Metreveli went through many covert operations and held a number of senior positions in the British intelligence agencies, which allowed her to earn a reputation as a professional with unique skills and strategic thinking. 

Blaze Metreveli became the first female head of British intelligence MI6

Blaze Metreveli

Blaze Metreveli, a 47-year-old experienced intelligence officer, became the first woman to head the British foreign intelligence service MI6. This historic appointment marks an important milestone in the history of Britain's traditionally male-led intelligence services.

Prior to her appointment, Metreveli held a number of key director-level positions in both MI6 and the MI5 Internal Security service. Her many years of experience and deep understanding of international intelligence and counterintelligence have made her an ideal candidate to lead one of the most renowned intelligence services in the world.

Experts note that under the leadership of Metreveli, MI6 can strengthen its position in the face of growing global challenges, including cyber espionage, terrorism and geopolitical competition. Her appointment also reflects the British Government's commitment to a more inclusive and modern approach to national security.