French historian Helene Carrere d’Encausse, 94, died in Paris on Saturday. She was the first woman to head the French Academy. She specialized in Russian subjects.

Born in 1929, Helene Carrere d’Encausse came from a family of Georgian emigrants who fled to the West during the Bolshevik Revolution. She received French citizenship in 1950. She made her debut in 1978, and in a big way – with a book predicting the collapse of the USSR. In addition, she wrote several biographies, including Lenin, Stalin and Catherine II.

She has been a member of the French Academy since 1990 and its permanent secretary since 1999. She was also a member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999.

She was related to Salome Zurabishvili, the current president of Georgia. The woman’s death was announced by her children.