The transformation of inter-state conflicts is analyzed in connection with the following trends: the rejection of the use of direct military actions against the background of the creation of nuclear weapons; the formation of supranational formats; the departure from political confrontation towards indirect measures through the use of sanctions. The indicators that allow us to draw conclusions about the transformation of the confrontation between national actors at the present stage are identified. Among them: the form of the conflict; the content of the conflict; the areas of conflict confrontation; targets; the main methods of conducting conflict actions; the scale; the main participants; interpretations of the understanding of the conflict; the semantic load of the conflict; the tendency to institutionalization; the logic of the conflict; the influence of international development trends: globalization and integration; the basis of the conflict. Based on these indicators, a retrospective analysis of inter-state conflicts up to the present time is investigated. At the present stage, the conflict confrontation of state actors is accompanied by the use of new forms: «information war» and «hybrid war». The study shows that the recent political conflict between actors uses not direct, but indirect (economic) methods of influencing other state players, expressed through the sanctions mechanism and restrictive measures.