One month before the occupation, on 17 May 1940 the Cabinet of Ministers granted extraordinary powers to Kārlis Zariņš, Latvia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, Latvia was not allowed to establish a government-in-exile in any Western country or sign the Declaration of the United Nations (1942), as Latvian diplomats wished.

In the early 1960s that caused the Soviet Embassy in Canada to refuse to receive the lists distributed by the Canadian Department of External Affairs.

[1] Latvia's parliament officially restored the country’s full independence on the 21 August 1991 in the aftermath of the failed Soviet coup attempt.

Wide international recognition of restored independence started after that, and the legations and consulates of the exiled diplomatic service were transferred to the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.