Cartel activities are seriously prejudicial to the economy of any state, since cartel agreements provide their participants with a certain amount of income and hidden market power without additional efforts or investments. The main countermeasures against antitrust violations in most countries have traditionally been penalties. At the same time, the experience in application of penalties has shown that they are insufficient to deter or counteract cartelization. Since the 90s of the last century, there has been a tendency to criminalize cartels in most countries of the world. Criminalization of antitrust violations has been unexceptionally justified by the necessity to ensure an effective competition policy. It is assumed that only the threat of imprisonment is the main and powerful deterrent for potential cartelists. But at the same time, scientists have not reached a consensus and are debating about the necessity and expediency of criminal prosecution and imprisonment of cartelists. In this situation, it is necessary to understand how justified and effective is the application of criminal deterrence, first of all, sentence of imprisonment, in order to counteract antitrust violations, as well as to assess some of the issues associated therewith.