diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
index a847088869b..4ebce1c0b4b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ public class RecoverySourceHandler {
     /*
      * finalizes the recovery process
      */
-    public void finalizeRecovery(final long targetLocalCheckpoint) {
+    public void finalizeRecovery(final long targetLocalCheckpoint) throws IOException {
         if (shard.state() == IndexShardState.CLOSED) {
             throw new IndexShardClosedException(request.shardId());
         }
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ public class RecoverySourceHandler {
          */
         runUnderPrimaryPermit(() -> shard.markAllocationIdAsInSync(request.targetAllocationId(), targetLocalCheckpoint));
         final long globalCheckpoint = shard.getGlobalCheckpoint();
-        cancellableThreads.execute(() -> recoveryTarget.finalizeRecovery(globalCheckpoint));
+        cancellableThreads.executeIO(() -> recoveryTarget.finalizeRecovery(globalCheckpoint));
         runUnderPrimaryPermit(() -> shard.updateGlobalCheckpointForShard(request.targetAllocationId(), globalCheckpoint));
 
         if (request.isPrimaryRelocation()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
index 973c09635a3..41b3a829881 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
@@ -367,9 +367,11 @@ public class RecoveryTarget extends AbstractRefCounted implements RecoveryTarget
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void finalizeRecovery(final long globalCheckpoint) {
-        indexShard().updateGlobalCheckpointOnReplica(globalCheckpoint, "finalizing recovery");
+    public void finalizeRecovery(final long globalCheckpoint) throws IOException {
         final IndexShard indexShard = indexShard();
+        indexShard.updateGlobalCheckpointOnReplica(globalCheckpoint, "finalizing recovery");
+        // Persist the global checkpoint.
+        indexShard.sync();
         indexShard.finalizeRecovery();
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTargetHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTargetHandler.java
index 804c4f50484..e7403986dc2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTargetHandler.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTargetHandler.java
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public interface RecoveryTargetHandler {
      *
      * @param globalCheckpoint the global checkpoint on the recovery source
      */
-    void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint);
+    void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint) throws IOException;
 
     /**
      * Blockingly waits for cluster state with at least clusterStateVersion to be available
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/replication/RecoveryDuringReplicationTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/replication/RecoveryDuringReplicationTests.java
index 8f18ccd8c9a..2bf7de6b94a 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/replication/RecoveryDuringReplicationTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/replication/RecoveryDuringReplicationTests.java
@@ -580,7 +580,7 @@ public class RecoveryDuringReplicationTests extends ESIndexLevelReplicationTestC
         }
 
         @Override
-        public void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint) {
+        public void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint) throws IOException {
             if (hasBlocked() == false) {
                 // it maybe that not ops have been transferred, block now
                 blockIfNeeded(RecoveryState.Stage.TRANSLOG);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index 4618d84d4ad..e316de748db 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -2184,7 +2184,7 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends IndexShardTestCase {
                 }
 
                 @Override
-                public void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint) {
+                public void finalizeRecovery(long globalCheckpoint) throws IOException {
                     super.finalizeRecovery(globalCheckpoint);
                     assertListenerCalled.accept(replica);
                 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetServiceTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetServiceTests.java
index 16852502e8c..f691cfd0238 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetServiceTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetServiceTests.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class PeerRecoveryTargetServiceTests extends IndexShardTestCase {
 
             final Translog translog = replica.getTranslog();
             final String translogUUID = translog.getTranslogUUID();
-            assertThat(PeerRecoveryTargetService.getStartingSeqNo(recoveryTarget), equalTo(SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO));
+            assertThat(PeerRecoveryTargetService.getStartingSeqNo(recoveryTarget), equalTo(0L));
 
             translogLocation.set(writeTranslog(replica.shardId(), translogUUID, translog.currentFileGeneration(), maxSeqNo - 1));
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
index 3a5a4a3807a..a89237160aa 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
@@ -229,4 +229,17 @@ public class RecoveryTests extends ESIndexLevelReplicationTestCase {
             shards.assertAllEqual(numDocs);
         }
     }
+
+    public void testPeerRecoveryPersistGlobalCheckpoint() throws Exception {
+        try (ReplicationGroup shards = createGroup(0)) {
+            shards.startPrimary();
+            final long numDocs = shards.indexDocs(between(1, 100));
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                shards.flush();
+            }
+            final IndexShard replica = shards.addReplica();
+            shards.recoverReplica(replica);
+            assertThat(replica.getTranslog().getLastSyncedGlobalCheckpoint(), equalTo(numDocs - 1));
+        }
+    }
 }