"An Historical Atlas of Central Asia" written by Yuri Bregel. This is stated on Page no 67 of this book.

Until the last decade of the 19th century all trade between Central Asia and the other parts of the world was by means of camel caravans. Numerous caravan routes connected Central Asia with other regions of the Eurasian continent. The direction of many of these routes remained mostly the same over the centuries, but their relative importance would change with the changes in the political map of Asia. The so called Great Silk Route which
connected China, through Central Asia, with Iran and the Near East, did not exist as such in the post-Mongol period, and, beginning with the 17th century, other trade routes acquired special prominence in the Central Asian economy. The most important of them were the routes connecting Central Asia with the Stardom of Muscovy (from the early 18th century, the Russian Empire). With the Russian conquest of the Golden Horde’s successor states in the Volga basin in the mid-16th century and of the Sibir Khanate at the end of the same century, Russia became an immediate neighbor of the Dasht-i Qïpchaq, and her trade with the Noghes and Qazaq steppe, as well as with the Central Asian khanates, quickly developed.
Initially, the trade route from Russia to Central Asia went down the Volga to Astrakhan’, from which it continued either along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea and then to Khorezm (1½-2 months’ travel) and Mavarannahr, or by sea (8 to 27 days) to one of the two landings, Qabalah on the Buzkashi peninsula and Qaraghandy on the Mangïshlaq, and from there to Khorezm (3-5 weeks) and farther on.
In the 17th century, with the Russian Cossack expansion on the Yayïq, a route from Samara (in the middle course of the Volga) to Guryev gained more importance. And after the founding of Orenburg in 1743 this city became the main center through which almost all commercial and diplomatic communications between European Russia
and Central Asia took place. From Orenburg the caravan route went across the steppe to the Aral Sea and then divided into three main branches: to Tashkent along the Sir-Darya, and to Bukhara and Khorezm across the Qïzïl-qum. With the Russian colonization of Western Siberia, the old caravan routes connecting the cities in the middle course of the Sir-Darya with the Tobol, Ishim, and lower Irtysh basins (which were previously used mainly by Central Asian fur traders) acquired new importance for trade between Central Asia and the Russian settlements in Siberia. The travel from Tobol's to Turkestan took 2½-3 months. From the early 18th century another route developed connecting Omsk with the upper Irish and Jung aria.

All these routes were used both by Russian and Central Asian merchants. Among the latter, the most prominent role belonged to the Bukhara's, but from the late 18th century merchants of Tashkent were successfully competing with them. On the Russian side, merchants traveling to Central Asia were often Volga Tatars (many of whom, however, were the agents of major Russian trading companies) As distinct from the caravan routes between Central Asia and Russia, the routes connecting Central Asia with China lost their importance in the post-Timurid period, especially with the rise of the Junghar state in Jungharia and Eastern Turkestan: its wars with Ming China and the eastern Mongols, on the one hand, and with the Qazaqs, on the other, severely affected trade between Central Asia and China. The most important route to China, as before, went from Balkh through Ishkashim and Tashqurghan to Yarkend and then along the southern rim of the Tien-Shan to Turfan and Hami (this was the northern branch of the old Silk Route).
Two other routes, one through the Ferghana valley to Kashghar (via Irkeshtam) and another from Termez through Qarategin to Kashghar, were more difficult. The routes to China were somewhat revived in the early 19th century with the emergence of the Khanate of Qoqand, and it was Qoqandian merchants who dominated trade on these routes.