Criminal law, like positive law in general, is a political category. This axiom predetermines the statist approach to the formulation of criminal legal ideas and forms, and has a decisive influence on criminal legal reality. The influence of etatist ideology on the formation of criminal policy is especially growing in the context of crisis and conflict events, geopolitical tensions, and new challenges to the security of the state and its citizens. The criminal-political component permeates all spheres of state activity. Therefore, the goals, directions and priorities of criminal policy are conceptually subordinated to increasing the effectiveness of the criminal law protection of its functioning. In the critical stages of the life of society, the most important criminal and political task is to ensure the effective functioning of the state, which implies a correct understanding of the priority functions carried out by the state and the correct choice of means of their criminal law protection.

The purpose of the study is: to formulate a consistent and scientifically based understanding of the determinants of criminal policy in the context of conflict events, geopolitical tensions, new challenges to the security of the state; to develop the main directions for improving the effectiveness of criminal law protection of the implementation of priority functions of the state.

The methodology is based on dialectics as a doctrine of the development and interconnection of social phenomena. To achieve this goal, a normative approach is used in conjunction with general scientific methods, such as analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, formal-logical, structural methods and special methods: formal-legal, comparative research methods.

As a result of the study, an objective connection between criminal policy and the functioning of the state as a whole is established. It is concluded that the actualization and modification of the functions of the state involves the correction of the criminal law protection of public relations that develop in connection with their implementation. It is shown that during the period of armed conflict — at the time of improving the criminal-legal protection of the military function of the state — it should be taken into account that it is carried out not only by the Armed Forces, but also by the military-industrial complex, as well as by all organizations involved in the logistics of the army.