Abstract: The subject of this article is the formation of ideas about Russia in the public consciousness of France. The author analyzed the works of European authors who visited Russia in the period from the XV century to the middle of the XVIII century. The history of the formation of the image of Russia, viewed through the prism of the concept of the Other, interpreted in a dialogical way, provides the richest material for analysis. The concept of the "Other", interpreted in accordance with the Russian philosophical tradition as an equal collective subject of intercultural and artistic dialogue, which is identified and constructed as the Other in the process of correlation with the existing I or We. The origins of assessments of Russian reality later had a significant impact on the image of Russia. When writing the work, a set of general scientific and special historical, cultural, art criticism, historical and systemic methods of scientific search was used. The study was conducted taking into account the principles of historicism and objectivity, which allowed to recreate the picture of the development of ideas about Russia in France. The author of the work concluded that the perception of Russia, like no other European country, was subject to mystification, on the one hand, due to the scarcity and subjectivity of information about it. On the other hand, the acceptance of such a large and unknown country and people was seen as a threat to Europe. The results obtained make it possible to supplement and clarify the characteristic features of relations between peoples and trace the origins of misunderstanding. The materials in this article are of great interest for the study of intercultural communications between Russia and France. In conditions of disruption of the development of cultural dialogue, it is worth paying attention to the identification of new vectors in the interaction between countries. In line with what has been said, this work seems significant and relevant.