President-founder of the "Society for the Preservation of Russian Cultural Heritage in France" (1991). Author, co-author or compiler of more than forty books about writers and artists-emigrants.
Author of more than 400 scientific and journalistic articles on the culture (literature and art) of Russian emigration, conversations and interviews. Published in the "New Journal" (New York), in the "Continent" (Paris), in the "Sagittarius" (New York), in the magazine "Russian Thought" (London, Paris), published in Russian newspapers and magazines.
Russian artist, founder of the "Franco-Russian House" (Ber-les-Alpes, 1992), where famous Russian artists and writers visited. Organizer and participant of exhibitions of Russian expatriate artists in France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy.
He was awarded state awards of France (the Order of Merit, 1987 and the Order of Arts and Literature, 1999). Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts (2004), for his great contribution to the development of Russian-French cooperation, he was awarded the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation (2007), laureate of the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize (2009), the Literary Prize named after Anton Delvig (2010) and the first Tauride Literary Award "For a genuine contribution to the preservation and revival of the traditions of Russian literature" (2016). Rene is preparing the fourth volume of the book "Artists of Foreign Russia in the Art of Books: 1920–1970" for the Cultural Forum.