Georgian media and social networks erupted in frenzy on Monday as the British press broke news of Blaise Metreweli’s appointment as head of the foreign intelligence agency, the MI6. British intelligence holds a cult status, immortalized and promoted into pop culture by the James Bond franchise and, more recently, by the Slow Horses TV series. A Caucasian nation undergoing a tumultuous period of uncertainty is happy to claim Metreweli as its own, even though not much is known about her origins.
Metreveli is a prominent surname from western Georgia, shared by numerous notable Georgian public figures and personalities. The surname Metreweli, as borne by the new chief of the British spy agency, appears to be a German transcription of Metreveli, fueling speculation that the British official may be descended from Georgian émigrés in Europe.
Georgia, a country of 3.5 million, has claimed credit for giving the world a disproportionate number of celebrities, including its most controversial dictator son, Joseph Stalin, who built the Berlin Wall, and a mild-mannered Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, who helped take it down. Georgians are not unknown in the intelligence community either, with Lavrenti Beria heading Stalin’s murderous NKVD. But most recently, the nation left a softer imprint, shifting to the fashion world, with Demna Gvasalia heading the Balenciaga and then Gucci houses, and Matilda Gvarliani gracing the catwalks of Europe with her presence, and sports, with star athlete Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sweeping football titles or Merab (The Machine) Dvalishvili claiming Ultimate Fighting belts and shaking hands with President Donald Trump.
Georgians are divided between pride and suspicion regarding world-famous compatriots. “My grandmother has the same last name,” says Giorgi, a Georgian journalist. “She fits the bill of heading the Secret Service, too,” he quips with a twinkle in his eye. But some are less upbeat. “She is only Georgian if she is born and raised here,” wrote one social media commentator. He was promptly shushed by compatriots pointing to his screen name, spelled in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, rather than Georgia’s own, unique script. That tiny incident points to a larger picture.
For one, famous Georgians have a penchant for dabbling in politics. Kakha Kaladze won two Champions League titles with Italian football club Milan, only to live to become Tbilisi’s controversial mayor, while Mikheil Kavelashvili, his less famous teammate from the national football team, was named the country’s president after dubious elections.
But sports aside, geopolitics looms large. Georgia, only a few years ago lobbying to take its place in Europe, has been increasingly coming under Moscow’s shadow. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, is feeding the nation a concoction of conspiracy narratives about the Western “deep state” trying to push the country into war with Russia. The social media commentators quickly picked up on the MI6 appointment to satirize: “In the end, the deep state is revealed as one of ours,” one noted. “Now that Georgian women are in charge of the deep state, trouble is brewing for the Russians,” another says.
Behind this facade of misogynic bonhommerie, a harsher reality is afoot.
Georgia has been turning authoritarian at a breakneck speed. At least four new laws are now preventing the free media and civil society organizations from functioning freely. Three opposition leaders were recently jailed on trumped-up charges, and more may follow suit. Most worryingly, dozens of protesters were beaten by the police during the protests in December 2024-January 2025 in a manner that human rights experts said amounted to torture.
The EU and the United States have sanctioned officials, the police, prosecutors, and judges, but to no avail. No law enforcement official has been tried for using excessive force. Conversely, protesters got multi-year sentences for skirmishing with the police, and many more are awaiting their verdicts. A prominent journalist is behind bars for slapping the police chief during a tense night of arbitrary arrests, and some protesters were jailed for as little as swearing. The kangaroo courts churn out sentences at an industrial speed. All the while, the opposition appears disoriented, divided, and headless.
No wonder, then, that some Georgians see the appointment of a compatriot to a position of international influence with a glimmer of hope, just as they once looked at Salome Zourabishvili, a French diplomat of Georgian descent, as someone who could drive the country closer to the Western world. Nearly despairing to achieve coordination with the opposition parties, Zurabishvili, who served as the country’s fifth president, has slowly receded from the public eye.
Ms. Metreweli may not know it yet, but just as she takes up the position of “C” in these trying times, she might also be assuming a no less demanding post of Georgia’s next “deus ex machina.”