diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter.java
index e8cfd69..8d101b7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.validation.SharedRefDatabaseWrapper;
 import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
+import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project.NameKey;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.git.GitRepositoryManager;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
 
 @Singleton
 public class MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter implements ReplicationFetchFilter {
+  private static final String ZERO_ID_NAME = ObjectId.zeroId().name();
   private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
   public static final int MIN_WAIT_BEFORE_RELOAD_LOCAL_VERSION_MS = 1000;
   public static final int RANDOM_WAIT_BEFORE_RELOAD_LOCAL_VERSION_MS = 1000;
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@
         gitRepositoryManager.openRepository(Project.nameKey(projectName))) {
       RefDatabase refDb = repository.getRefDatabase();
       return refs.stream()
+          .filter(ref -> !hasBeenRemovedFromGlobalRefDb(projectName, ref))
           .filter(
               ref -> {
                 Optional<ObjectId> localRefOid =
@@ -81,6 +84,31 @@
     }
   }
 
+  /* If the ref to fetch has been set to all zeros on the global-refdb, it means
+   * that whatever is the situation locally, we do not need to fetch it:
+   * - If the remote still has it, fetching it will be useless because the global
+   *   state is that the ref should be removed.
+   * - If the remote doesn't have it anymore, trying to fetch the ref won't do
+   *   anything because you can't just remove local refs by fetching.
+   */
+  private boolean hasBeenRemovedFromGlobalRefDb(String projectName, String ref) {
+    if (foundAsZeroInSharedRefDb(Project.nameKey(projectName), ref)) {
+      repLog.info(
+          "{}:{} is found as zeros (removed) in shared-refdb thus will NOT BE fetched",
+          projectName,
+          ref);
+      return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  private boolean foundAsZeroInSharedRefDb(NameKey projectName, String ref) {
+    return sharedRefDb
+        .get(projectName, ref, String.class)
+        .map(r -> ZERO_ID_NAME.equals(r))
+        .orElse(false);
+  }
+
   private Optional<ObjectId> getSha1IfUpToDateWithGlobalRefDb(
       Repository repository,
       String projectName,
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilterTest.java
index 7abb513..ad7ae3c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultisiteReplicationFetchFilterTest.java
@@ -27,10 +27,12 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.testing.InMemoryTestEnvironment;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.RefFixture;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.storage.dfs.InMemoryRepository;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.junit.LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.junit.TestRepository;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -123,6 +125,85 @@
     verify(sharedRefDatabaseMock, times(2)).isUpToDate(any(), any());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotFilterOutWhenMissingInTheSharedRefDb() throws Exception {
+    String temporaryOutdated = "refs/heads/temporaryOutdated";
+    newRef(temporaryOutdated);
+
+    Set<String> refsToFetch = Set.of(temporaryOutdated);
+
+    MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter fetchFilter =
+        new MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter(sharedRefDatabaseMock, gitRepositoryManager);
+    Set<String> filteredRefsToFetch = fetchFilter.filter(project, refsToFetch);
+
+    assertThat(filteredRefsToFetch).hasSize(1);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldFilterOutWhenRefIsDeletedInTheSharedRefDb() throws Exception {
+    String temporaryOutdated = "refs/heads/temporaryOutdated";
+    newRef(temporaryOutdated);
+
+    Set<String> refsToFetch = Set.of(temporaryOutdated);
+    doReturn(Optional.of(ObjectId.zeroId().getName()))
+        .when(sharedRefDatabaseMock)
+        .get(eq(projectName), any(), any());
+
+    MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter fetchFilter =
+        new MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter(sharedRefDatabaseMock, gitRepositoryManager);
+    Set<String> filteredRefsToFetch = fetchFilter.filter(project, refsToFetch);
+
+    assertThat(filteredRefsToFetch).hasSize(0);
+    verify(sharedRefDatabaseMock).get(eq(projectName), any(), any());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotFilterOutWhenRefIsMissingOnlyInTheLocalRepository() throws Exception {
+    String refObjectId = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000001";
+    String nonExistingLocalRef = "refs/heads/temporaryOutdated";
+
+    Set<String> refsToFetch = Set.of(nonExistingLocalRef);
+    doReturn(Optional.of(refObjectId))
+        .when(sharedRefDatabaseMock)
+        .get(eq(projectName), any(), any());
+
+    MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter fetchFilter =
+        new MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter(sharedRefDatabaseMock, gitRepositoryManager);
+    Set<String> filteredRefsToFetch = fetchFilter.filter(project, refsToFetch);
+
+    assertThat(filteredRefsToFetch).hasSize(1);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotFilterOutRefThatDoesntExistLocallyOrInSharedRefDb() throws Exception {
+    String nonExisting = "refs/heads/non-existing-ref";
+
+    Set<String> refsToFetch = Set.of(nonExisting);
+
+    MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter fetchFilter =
+        new MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter(sharedRefDatabaseMock, gitRepositoryManager);
+    Set<String> filteredRefsToFetch = fetchFilter.filter(project, refsToFetch);
+
+    assertThat(filteredRefsToFetch).hasSize(1);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldFilterOutRefMissingInTheLocalRepositoryAndDeletedInSharedRefDb()
+      throws Exception {
+    String nonExistingLocalRef = "refs/heads/temporaryOutdated";
+
+    Set<String> refsToFetch = Set.of(nonExistingLocalRef);
+    doReturn(Optional.of(ObjectId.zeroId().getName()))
+        .when(sharedRefDatabaseMock)
+        .get(eq(projectName), any(), any());
+
+    MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter fetchFilter =
+        new MultisiteReplicationFetchFilter(sharedRefDatabaseMock, gitRepositoryManager);
+    Set<String> filteredRefsToFetch = fetchFilter.filter(project, refsToFetch);
+
+    assertThat(filteredRefsToFetch).hasSize(0);
+  }
+
   private void newRef(String refName) throws Exception {
     repo.branch(refName).commit().create();
   }