Jak Ihmalian relocated to the Soviet Union in 1961, where he spent the rest of his life. Initially, he worked as a radio editor before becoming a lecturer at Moscow State University in 1963. He organized exhibitions in Moscow from 1968 to 1978 and became a member of the Soviet Union Painters Committee in 1974. Ihmalian passed away in April 1978 at the age of 56 in Moscow, and his body was cremated in Yerevan.