diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index c518b885a2e..cedfcfabc73 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -903,7 +903,8 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
                                  final Map<String, Object> userMetadata,
                                  Version repositoryMetaVersion,
                                  final ActionListener<SnapshotInfo> listener) {
-
+        assert repositoryStateId > RepositoryData.UNKNOWN_REPO_GEN :
+            "Must finalize based on a valid repository generation but received [" + repositoryStateId + "]";
         final Collection<IndexId> indices = shardGenerations.indices();
         // Once we are done writing the updated index-N blob we remove the now unreferenced index-${uuid} blobs in each shard
         // directory if all nodes are at least at version SnapshotsService#SHARD_GEN_IN_REPO_DATA_VERSION
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotsService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotsService.java
index f350c7ecf90..f7c0f41d878 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotsService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotsService.java
@@ -106,9 +106,8 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.SnapshotsInProgress.completed;
  * <ul>
  * <li>On the master node the {@link #createSnapshot(CreateSnapshotRequest, ActionListener)} is called and makes sure that
  * no snapshot is currently running and registers the new snapshot in cluster state</li>
- * <li>When cluster state is updated
- * the {@link #beginSnapshot} method kicks in and initializes
- * the snapshot in the repository and then populates list of shards that needs to be snapshotted in cluster state</li>
+ * <li>When the cluster state is updated the {@link #beginSnapshot} method kicks in and populates the list of shards that need to be
+ * snapshotted in cluster state</li>
  * <li>Each data node is watching for these shards and when new shards scheduled for snapshotting appear in the cluster state, data nodes
  * start processing them through {@link SnapshotShardsService#startNewSnapshots} method</li>
  * <li>Once shard snapshot is created data node updates state of the shard in the cluster state using
@@ -1057,10 +1056,16 @@ public class SnapshotsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements Clus
         if (endingSnapshots.add(entry.snapshot()) == false) {
             return;
         }
+        final Snapshot snapshot = entry.snapshot();
+        if (entry.repositoryStateId() == RepositoryData.UNKNOWN_REPO_GEN) {
+            logger.debug("[{}] was aborted before starting", snapshot);
+            removeSnapshotFromClusterState(entry.snapshot(), null,
+                new SnapshotException(snapshot, "Aborted on initialization"));
+            return;
+        }
         threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.SNAPSHOT).execute(new AbstractRunnable() {
             @Override
             protected void doRun() {
-                final Snapshot snapshot = entry.snapshot();
                 final Repository repository = repositoriesService.repository(snapshot.getRepository());
                 final String failure = entry.failure();
                 logger.trace("[{}] finalizing snapshot in repository, state: [{}], failure[{}]", snapshot, entry.state(), failure);
@@ -1256,12 +1261,15 @@ public class SnapshotsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements Clus
      */
     private void deleteSnapshot(final Snapshot snapshot, final ActionListener<Void> listener, final long repositoryStateId,
                                 final boolean immediatePriority) {
-        logger.info("deleting snapshot [{}]", snapshot);
         Priority priority = immediatePriority ? Priority.IMMEDIATE : Priority.NORMAL;
+        logger.info("deleting snapshot [{}] assuming repository generation [{}] and with priority [{}]",
+            snapshot, repositoryStateId, priority);
         clusterService.submitStateUpdateTask("delete snapshot", new ClusterStateUpdateTask(priority) {
 
             boolean waitForSnapshot = false;
 
+            boolean abortedDuringInit = false;
+
             @Override
             public ClusterState execute(ClusterState currentState) {
                 SnapshotDeletionsInProgress deletionsInProgress = currentState.custom(SnapshotDeletionsInProgress.TYPE);
@@ -1321,6 +1329,7 @@ public class SnapshotsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements Clus
                         shards = snapshotEntry.shards();
                         assert shards.isEmpty();
                         failure = "Snapshot was aborted during initialization";
+                        abortedDuringInit = true;
                     } else if (state == State.STARTED) {
                         // snapshot is started - mark every non completed shard as aborted
                         final ImmutableOpenMap.Builder<ShardId, ShardSnapshotStatus> shardsBuilder = ImmutableOpenMap.builder();
@@ -1385,19 +1394,21 @@ public class SnapshotsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements Clus
                             );
                         },
                         e -> {
-                            logger.warn("deleted snapshot failed - deleting files", e);
-                            threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.SNAPSHOT).execute(() -> {
-                                try {
-                                    deleteSnapshot(snapshot.getRepository(), snapshot.getSnapshotId().getName(), listener, true);
-                                } catch (SnapshotMissingException smex) {
-                                    logger.info(() -> new ParameterizedMessage(
-                                        "Tried deleting in-progress snapshot [{}], but it could not be found after failing to abort.",
-                                        smex.getSnapshotName()), e);
-                                    listener.onFailure(new SnapshotException(snapshot,
-                                        "Tried deleting in-progress snapshot [" + smex.getSnapshotName() + "], but it " +
-                                            "could not be found after failing to abort.", smex));
+                            if (abortedDuringInit) {
+                                logger.debug(() -> new ParameterizedMessage("Snapshot [{}] was aborted during INIT", snapshot), e);
+                                listener.onResponse(null);
+                            } else {
+                                if (ExceptionsHelper.unwrap(e, NotMasterException.class, FailedToCommitClusterStateException.class)
+                                    != null) {
+                                    logger.warn("master failover before deleted snapshot could complete", e);
+                                    // Just pass the exception to the transport handler as is so it is retried on the new master
+                                    listener.onFailure(e);
+                                } else {
+                                    logger.warn("deleted snapshot failed", e);
+                                    listener.onFailure(
+                                        new SnapshotMissingException(snapshot.getRepository(), snapshot.getSnapshotId(), e));
                                 }
-                            });
+                            }
                         }
                     ));
                 } else {