I've been wondering about this. Forgive my ignorance of the details, but wasn't Russian Central Asia basically a colony of Russia akin to the European empires in Africa? A large native population living under the rule of a European empire that viewed them as inferiors? If so, in a scenario where the Russian Empire (the monarchy) survives (I'll let you guys choose the scenario for how that happens), would Russia lose the territory during decolonization the same way that other European empires lost their colonies (the Russians would probably still have a huge amount of influence in the newly independent country(ies), but still)? Or could Russia keep Central Asia as part of the Russian Empire. How would the region evolve in either scenario?
Please know that I have no idea how the Soviets kept Central Asia until their fall, and know very little about the actual "facts on the ground" there, I was just curious.
I put this in before 1900 in order to give breathing room for a POD.