I wonder if Ukraine has been removed from the exclusion list since then. A quick Google search says that the keyboards layouts are different from Russian keyboards.

I was thinking the same thing.

Seems like the safest would be standard Russian keyboard layout (or maybe just adding the reg keys mentioned)

Also makes me wonder if installing a specific Chinese keyboard could have the same effect (for Chinese made ransomware or maybe even North Korean). Or perhaps they do other checks ?

Could check month/date/time formats

Wouldn't that exclude a ton of countries though ? Russia covers a lot of time zones.

Syria may get removed soon, seeing as now a USA aligned country.