In the article the need for state regulation of import substitution in the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation is founded upon the basis of food self-sufficiency call under conditions of sanctions. It is determined that when forming the mechanism of import substitution, an integrated approach is necessary, taking into account the peculiarities of the state development and the use of all types of potential. The existing trends in the functioning of the Russian Federation agricultural sector are noted. The main problem of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation is revealed to be the lack of state support and funding, as well as the drawbacks of state regulation. It was revealed that, despite the identified positive tendencies in the development of the agro-industrial complex, with the purpose of stabilization it is necessary to upgrade the technical and technological spheres on the basis of an innovative approach to scientific and technological developments in all sectors of the agroindustrial complex. It was also pointed out to the fact in the sphere of food supply, an effective import substitution policy is possible provided that conditions for the development of Russian production of competitive food products are created. It is advisable to form import substitution on the basis of a closed production cycle within the state, in which producers are involved in supply and delivery chains directly to trading enterprises, and that requires improvements of the interaction system of all market actors. At the same time, producers are supposed to be able to significantly increase income, and consumers are supposed to have favorable food prices. A model of import substitution state regulation mechanism in the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation on the basis of selfsufficiency need in food is proposed, which is a set of stages for the implementation of a certain sequence of actions where each of the twelve stages is specified. In the process of implementation of the proposed model significant advantages can be achieved in the economic, technical and organizational spheres of the agriculturalsector.