"This is the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war," the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a post on X.
"More than half are connected to the production chain for ballistic missiles," she said.
The ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, formally endorsed a deal reached by EU ambassadors last week.
The new listings include 743 individuals and 826 entities tied to Russia’s defence industry, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
A further 77 people involved in elections to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, are also named, including three members of the Central Election Commission.
Those listed face an EU entry ban and the freezing of their assets and bank accounts in Europe.
The additions increase by half the size of the sanctions list, which already numbered almost 3,000 entries.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki, who said his country had played a significant part in drawing up the list, called the measures "the right response" to Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians.
The targeted companies come from 66 Russian regions, most of them in Moscow and St Petersburg.
They span the arms production chain from research institutes and design bureaus to makers of ammunition, missile systems and submarines, as well as aviation, space, chemical, metallurgical and electronics firms.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called the sanctions an "unprecedented blow" to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s war economy.
"We will keep increasing the pressure until Putin is ready for serious peace negotiations in Ukraine," Wadephul said.
"The message is clear: Russia cannot win and will not win this war," he added.
Wadephul met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York in late September, the first meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Afterwards, he said Moscow was not ready for negotiations and there was no need for further meetings.
(ał/gs)
Source: IAR