The main purpose of the paper included research on the variability of stearic acid content in the seed oil of the accessions of the V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops (VNIIMK) sunflower genetic collection and to determine the mode of inheritance of the trait in F 1 generation for choosing a hybrid breeding strategy. Gas-liquid chromatography of methyl esters and infra-red spectrometry were used for the estimation of fatty acid profiles. The inbred lines of I 5 seeds LG31 LG32 LG33 LG34 and LG35 have been developed with high stearic acid content from 11.6 to 22.6%. Lines LG31 and LG32 showed relatively high values of oleic acid in the range of 56.7–70.5%. Lines LG33 and LG34 belonged to a group with a content of oleic acid in the range of 11.4–19.9%. An inbred line LG35 possessed increased content of stearic acid up to 11.6% on the low oleic background. The recessive type of inheritance of the mutations with high content of stearic acid in sunflower seed oil was verified. Both complete and incomplete dominance degree of standard content of stearic acid was found. Intermediate inheritance in F 1 of this character was firstly distinguished in the cross of standard with high stearic acid line LG35.