The article addresses the theoretical issues of the protection of the state interests in the Ukrainian law. The protection of the state interests, being an objective necessity from the perspective of the development of the state and the civil society, requires legal measures to be applied by the state. The core aspect in the analysis of the process of the protection of the state interests by such measures is the theoretical understanding of the state interests concept, including their definition and the requisite qualifications. Based on the approaches of the domestic as well as of the international law on human rights the state interests are proposed to be viewed as objective interests, public in nature, comprising the underlying general social needs, acknowledged by the state. The state interest include, further, the appropriate legal means by which such interests are capable of being protected. Such measures should be relevant to the respective state interests as well as to the specific social relationships in which such measures are to be applied.