Abstract: The study focuses on the work of the French researcher Henri Troyat (1911-2007), who had Russian roots and whose work combines the best features of two cultural traditions. The researcher deals with the theme of Russia which is one of the key themes in the writer’s work and analyzes the image of Russia created in the biographies of Russian tsars and Russian writers. The study points out the role of Troyat as a popularizer of Russian literature, whose works form an idea of Russia in the minds of French people, acquaint the French reader with Russian history and culture, traditions and customs. The researcher outlines the range of problems that the French writer was concerned about the role of the individual in history, the influence of history on the fate of an individual, the dramatic fate of the humble man in the maelstrom of historical upheavals, the problem of belonging to two homelands.