Baltic States – CIS, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Transport

The sanctions published in the EU's official journal also add 24 individuals to a blacklist of people facing a travel ban and asset freeze.

Russian oil giants Rosneft and Transneft plus the petroleum unit of gas giant Gazprom are specifically targeted by the new punitive measures.

They also target the United Aircraft Corporation – the parent company that produces MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets among others – tank maker Uralvagonzavod, and state-controlled aerospace holding company and helicopter maker Oboronprom.

Small-arms maker ''Kalashnikov'' is on a list of companies to which EU nations are now barred from selling technology that could be used for military purposes.

The blacklist of Russian and Ukrainian individuals includes Sergei Chemezov, the head of state-owned ''Rostec'' industrial corporation, described as a "close associate" of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was a KGB officer with the Russian president in East Germany in the 1980s.

It also targets pro-Russian separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine, where Western nations say Moscow sent troops to support an uprising against the government in Kiev. They include eastern Ukrainian separatist leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Vladimir Kononov, the so-called prime minister and defense minister of the Donetsk People's Republic; and Miroslav Rudenko, commander of the Donbass People's Militia.

Russian ultra-nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky is also on the list, alongside other influential parliamentarians.

EU nations finally approved the sanctions on Thursday after a week of deep divisions about whether they should be implemented despite a ceasefire in Ukraine.

European Council president Herman Van Rompuy said that the punitive measures could be lifted after a review of the Ukraine truce at the end of September.

US President Barack Obama had also announced Thursday that Washington would intensify punitive measures against Moscow.

Friday's EU sanctions are a toughening up of measures adopted in July after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-held east Ukraine.

Among the banks there are Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, VEB and Rosselhozbank.

As a result, the Russian ruble slumped to a new record low of 37.72 against the dollar on Friday after the sanctions entered into force.

Russia calls the latest round of EU sanctions an "unfriendly act" and says it will retaliate. "Our response will be proportionate to the damage those sanctions do to the economies of our states," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich is quoted as saying by news agencies.

Moscow expects European business to lobby against the sanctions because they are "counterproductive," said Lukashevich.

Andrei Belousov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the measures would be directed at the import of pre-owned cars and several types of consumer goods, such as clothing.