"The Siberian fur trade was the most important single factor in the creation of a comparatively strong and numerically increasing Russian commercial class" (Willerslev & Ulturgasheva, 84).



The Siberian fur trade, although not as prominent as the oil and gas industry today, saw the exploitation of Indigenous populations and land to build state wealth as sable fur, among others, were exported to major cities in Europe to sustain the wardrobes of nobility. However, Russia's fur trade changed the way in which indigenous populations treated and hunted their fur, as large quantities needed to be fulfilled to accommodate this fast-growing industry at the time.
Although individuals online are not wearing serval fur, one may conclude that the other furs they are wearing are sable, or other mammals that have been exploited for their fur. As mentioned before, although fur is not a driving commodity in Russia's economy, it's soft gold properties has changed the way in which long-standing practises use the labour force of Russia's 'Others'. 

There have been two resource-bound periods of Russian history, the era of fur and the era of gas. Historically discontinuous, these two periods feature uncanny similarities – structural and geographic, essential and accidental. Processing these commodities is unusually messy. The state’s dependency on trade in them makes the population superfluous. Extracting, storing, and delivering these resources makes security more important than liberty. Reliance on these resources destroys the environment, natural and cultural. And oil is also counted in barrels (Etkind, 2011).

Additionally, I was prompted to think if these Instagram pages were linked to any specific historical context, or if they are just contained within this specific internet phenomenon. Although it is contained in the digital space, I still wanted to bring in the fur trade to highlight how Russia's different economies are connected to a sense of national identity. The women in the Instagram posts are coded as Russian as we realize the surplus of the fur and how accessible it is in the country. 

Animal products and certain by-products (such as the materials used in lip filler and plastic / cosmetic surgery in general) are certainly appropriated - it begs the question of what / who decides the animals that undergo these various forms of appropriation. Inherent uses of animals lie below the surface as we cannot see the treatment an animal undergoes when it is extracted for 'resource' to be used by human beings. Perhaps we do not recognize it, but the servals are given the same treatment as they are viewed as source material to be posted on Instagram. 

This next section is not centred around Instagram Girls and servals, but still important, nonetheless:
Although the timeline does not cover Russia's recent geo-political issues, I want to give Russia's Invasion of Ukraine proper space here. The various topics covered in this project is not to glorify or uplift certain aspects of Russia, it is to shed light on an Internet phenomenon that has been circulating in the recent cultural canon of Instagram trends. Furthermore, coming from a Chuvash background, I have become sharply aware of the implications of Russia's recent turn towards unification, as over the years it has increasingly turned into an imperialist state that fosters homogenous values and traditions. It should not take a large scale invasion to recognize that Russia is comprised of many ethnic groups that are not Slavic, however the war has shown myself and many others that we are able to push against the government creating the same agenda for everyone, and grouping its population under one umbrella. This is just a personal opinion, but I feel that indigenous inclusion will be vital for shaping a Russia not centred around the invasion of neighbouring countries for the sake of stronger national power. 
Turning to servals, they are not native to Russia as other animals such as Amur Tigers, Far Eastern Leopards, Eurasian Lynxes, Snow Leopards and Pallas Cats are more accustomed to the wintery climates of Russia's NorthEastern Regions. Rather than focusing on servals as the perfect pets, a posthuman future would include indigenous methodologies that appreciate the importance and dependence these wild cats have on our ecosystems. Instead of harvesting sables for their fur or servals for their Instagram views, we can appreciate them from an appropriate distance and look to big cats native to Russia to see how we can all live in a cohesive environment.