diff --git a/docs/release-procedure.md b/docs/release-procedure.md
index c938ac4d91..f0e60bf262 100644
--- a/docs/release-procedure.md
+++ b/docs/release-procedure.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ critical bug fixes.
 4. Once the PR is merged, make a tag and push it to the upstream repository.
 
     ```bash
-    $ git checkout -b release-X.Y upstream/release-X.Y
+    $ git checkout -b release-X.Y upstream master
     $ git pull upstream release-X.Y --tags
     $ git tag -m "Release for cloud-provider-openstack to support Kubernetes release x" vX.Y.Z
     $ git push upstream vX.Y.Z