This actually reminds of an (incredibly outlandish) idea I had for a timeline in which the Russians are shut out of Europe more or less permanently by Scandinavia and Poland-Lithuania, and through a combination of tenacity and insanity they manage to drive east and transport enough of their resources and manpower to Central Asia early enough for them to ultimately intervene in the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in China and "claim the mandate of heaven" before the Qing Dynasty can be established. The tsars would then establish the "Oriental Empire" and begin trying to both assimilate to Chinese/Confucian culture and Russianize/Christianize China/Central Asia. This would definitely not be the Russia we know, but rather a far more Eurasian one by necessity, having the majority of their population likely being non-Russian and non-European.