Former hockey match referee and press officer for the Nizhny Novgorod hockey club "Torpedo" and the Youth Hockey League. Due to reposting an announcement on 4th June in support of Alexei Navalny, he was forced to record a video apology and was then arrested for eight days under the article on organising an unauthorised event (Part 2, Article 20.2 of the Administrative Offences Code). On 6th July, the Investigative Committee initiated a case against Zharikov under the article on "fake news" about the Russian army due to a June broadcast on Instagram. He was taken into custody. On 1st August, a new case was opened against Zharikov under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism due to a post on VKontakte. Later, it was also revealed that there was a case for public justification of terrorism due to a publication on Instagram. On 20th October 2023, Zharikov was sentenced to six years in a general regime penal colony. On 13th May 2024, the appellate court reduced his sentence by two months.