The article analyzes the main sources of the «Russian history» of the French enlightener Pierre -CharlesLevesque, used by him in the study of the reign of the Grand Duke of Moscow (1462-1505), Sovereign of All Russia Ivan III. French historian focused on the issue of the shaping of Russian statehood foundations. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the enlightened Frenchman by way of all his narration demonstrated the inevitability of the state association of the Russian lands, which occurred under the authority of the «strong man of Ivan III», as the key event of Russian history. It is studied and systematized historical material, placed in the «Explanatory Catalog» of the above-mentioned work of Levesque, which is a guide on the way of understanding his «Russian history». Particular attention is paid to the annals, legislative acts of the era, periodicals, ethnographic studies of the subsequent historical period. The designated sources as a whole are used by French scientists to maximize immersion in the historical realities of the XV-th century.