The article is dedicated to the institution of international legal sanctions as collective or unilateral coercive measures applied by states or international organizations to a state that has violated international legal norms. International sanctions are the coercive measures provided by the international law and implemented in a special procedural order, directed against the state-violator of norms of international law. The concepts of "sanctions", "unilateral restrictive measures" and "restriction" are analyzed and compared due to the fact that unilateral restrictive measures and restriction are often understood as varieties of sanctions. It is noted and justified that restrictions cannot be considered as sanctions, unlike unilateral coercive measures.