EU ambassadors have approved the bloc's biggest batch of Russia sanctions listings, blacklisting some 1,650 people and companies, mostly from the defence industry, Reuters reported on October 7.

The 22nd sanctions package lists 743 individuals and 826 entities in Russia's military-industrial complex, plus 77 people "elected" to the State Duma from occupied Ukrainian territories, according to Kyiv Post. More than half the defence listings relate to missile production. The targets run from military shipbuilding and missile and space technology to aircraft engines, artillery, armoured vehicles, electronics, semiconductors and ammunition, and include executives at submarine builders Sevmash, Admiralty Shipyards and the Zvezdochka ship repair centre, NV reported.

The listings add more than half again to the roughly 3,000 names already on the EU's main Russia blacklist, but the package carries no new sectoral trade or financial restrictions. That marks a change of tack after Greece held up the 21st sanctions package in July over protection for its shipping interests. With every package requiring unanimity among the 27 member states, Brussels has opted for targeted listings that are easier to push through than sector-wide measures.

The measures are not yet legally in force. EU foreign ministers are expected to adopt them formally on October 12, after which they take effect on publication in the EU's Official Journal. Those listed face asset freezes and travel bans, and EU residents are barred from making funds available to them. After this round, the EU plans to switch to smaller rolling lists in place of large bundled packages, The Kyiv Independent reported in September.

One Russian company and an individual linked to it were dropped from the draft at Estonia's request, because the firm supplies rare earths to NPM Silmet, an Estonia-based processor, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported on October 8.

"The company supplies Estonia-based NPM Silmet with materials of strategic importance to Europe," Kerstin Lepik, a press officer at Estonia's representation in Brussels, told ERR, adding that Tallinn would reconsider the listing next year.

The Duma listings follow a pledge by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to sanction those involved in Russia's September parliamentary elections, which Moscow also held in the occupied regions of Ukraine, Meduza reported on September 21. Ambassadors also agreed to renew the EU's chemical weapons sanctions, which cover 31 individuals and six entities.

Russian analysts played down the impact. Artyom Sokolov, a senior research fellow at the MGIMO International Studies Institute, told Vedomosti that the switch from industry-wide measures to personal, albeit broad, listings showed Brussels had run through its range of restrictions, as deeper sanctions would also hurt the EU itself. Many Duma deputies are already under sanctions, he said, and the chamber's work would be unaffected.

Alexander Kamkin, an associate professor at the Financial University under the Russian government, told the paper that the EU had exhausted the potential of economic sanctions, and argued that targeting the defence sector amounted to an acknowledgement of Russia's achievements in it.