Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel on June 28 that “Someone is deliberately and consciously placing descendants of Nazis in leadership positions in the countries of the ‘collective West.’” She referred to the fact that “the internet exploded with news that the grandfather of the new head of British intelligence, Blaise Metreweli, Konstantin Dobrovolsky, was a Ukrainian Nazi and war criminal during World War II.” In addition to facts widely reported in the British media, Zakharova took note that—if researchers have identified the right Dobrovolsky—"archival materials preserved his confession: ‘I personally took part in the extermination of Jews near Kiev.’... His documents include letters ending with the Nazi greeting ‘Heil Hitler!’”
The British Foreign Office jumped to Metreweli’s defense, saying she “neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather,” adding that “Blaise’s ancestry is characterized by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood.”
