The British government acknowledged Saturday that the incoming chief of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, had a paternal grandfather who was a Nazi spy known for his brutal wartime collaboration — but stressed that Metreweli had no personal connection to him.

Metreweli, who is set to become the first woman to lead the Secret Intelligence Service on October 1, was revealed earlier this week to be the granddaughter of Constantine Dobrowolski, a Ukrainian who defected from the Red Army during World War II and became a key Nazi informant in occupied Ukraine.

According to archival documents uncovered in Freiburg, Germany, and reported by the Daily Mail, Dobrowolski was known to Nazi commanders as “The Butcher” or “Agent No. 30.” Motivated by revenge for the loss of his family estate during the Bolshevik Revolution, he joined the Nazis in their campaign against the Soviet Union.

The files allege Dobrowolski organized a 300-man Ukrainian police force that collaborated with Nazi murder squads to massacre Jews and resistance fighters in the Chernihiv region. Letters he wrote to Nazi handlers included signatures of “Heil Hitler” and references to taking part personally in the extermination of Jews, the Mail reported.

Other horrifying accounts describe Dobrowolski’s unit looting the corpses of Holocaust victims and laughing at the suffering of women prisoners. The Soviet Union had branded Dobrowolski “the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people” and placed a substantial bounty on his head.

Responding to the revelations, the Foreign Office emphasized that Metreweli “neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather.” A spokesperson said her “complex heritage” was not uncommon for those with Eastern European ancestry and had only been partially understood.

“It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats,” the statement added, defending her appointment.

Metreweli, 47, is a seasoned intelligence officer fluent in Arabic who has served on high-risk operations across Europe and the Middle East for two decades following 9/11. She will become the 18th head of MI6, and the only publicly named member of the service, breaking a 116-year tradition of male leadership.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)