diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/branch/GitBranchUtil.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/branch/GitBranchUtil.java
index a41a1727f48f..6e178b9cbc0f 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/branch/GitBranchUtil.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/branch/GitBranchUtil.java
@@ -228,7 +228,11 @@ public class GitBranchUtil {
       String branchName = stdName.substring(slash + 1);
       GitRemote remote = findRemoteByName(remoteName, remotes);
       if (remote == null) {
-        return null;
+        // user may remove the remote section from .git/config, but leave remote refs untouched in .git/refs/remotes
+        LOG.info(String.format("No remote found with the name [%s]. All remotes: %s", remoteName, remotes));
+        GitRemote fakeRemote = new GitRemote(remoteName, ContainerUtil.<String>emptyList(), Collections.<String>emptyList(),
+                                             Collections.<String>emptyList(), Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        return new GitStandardRemoteBranch(fakeRemote, branchName, hash);
       }
       return new GitStandardRemoteBranch(remote, branchName, hash);
     }
@@ -241,8 +245,6 @@ public class GitBranchUtil {
         return remote;
       }
     }
-    // user may remove the remote section from .git/config, but leave remote refs untouched in .git/refs/remotes
-    LOG.info(String.format("No remote found with the name [%s]. All remotes: %s", remoteName, remotes));
     return null;
   }
 
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/repo/GitRemote.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/repo/GitRemote.java
index a0695d281bd7..b2e289ce7d40 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/repo/GitRemote.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/repo/GitRemote.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import java.util.List;
  * </p>
  * <p>
  *   GitRemote instance constructed by {@link GitConfig#read(GitPlatformFacade, File)}} has all these rules applied.
- *   Thus, for example, if only one {@code url} and no {@code pushUrls} are defined for the remote, 
+ *   Thus, for example, if only one {@code url} and no {@code pushUrls} are defined for the remote,
  *   both {@link #getUrls()} and {@link #getPushUrls()} will return this url. <br/>
  *   This is made to avoid urls transformation logic from the code using GitRemote, leaving it all in GitConfig parsing.
  * </p>
@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@ import java.util.List;
  *   Same applies to fetch and push specs: {@link #getPushRefSpecs()} returns the spec,
  *   even if there are no separate record in {@code .git/config}
  * </p>
- * 
+ *
  * <p>
  *   NB: Not all remote preferences (defined in {@code .git/config} are stored in the object.
  *   If some additional data is needed, add the field, getter, constructor parameter and populate it in {@link GitConfig}.
  * </p>
- * 
+ *
  * <p>Remotes are compared (via equals, hashcode and compareTo) only by names.</p>
- * 
+ *
  * @author Kirill Likhodedov
  */
 public final class GitRemote implements Comparable<GitRemote> {
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ public final class GitRemote implements Comparable<GitRemote> {
   @NotNull  final List<String> myFetchRefSpecs;
   @NotNull private final List<String> myPushRefSpecs;
 
-  GitRemote(@NotNull String name, @NotNull List<String> urls, @NotNull Collection<String> pushUrls,
-            @NotNull List<String> fetchRefSpecs, @NotNull List<String> pushRefSpecs) {
+  public GitRemote(@NotNull String name, @NotNull List<String> urls, @NotNull Collection<String> pushUrls,
+                   @NotNull List<String> fetchRefSpecs, @NotNull List<String> pushRefSpecs) {
     myName = name;
     myUrls = urls;
     myPushUrls = pushUrls;
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/tests/git4idea/repo/GitRepositoryReaderNewTest.java b/plugins/git4idea/tests/git4idea/repo/GitRepositoryReaderNewTest.java
index 89f382806658..9570cbdc06fe 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/tests/git4idea/repo/GitRepositoryReaderNewTest.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/tests/git4idea/repo/GitRepositoryReaderNewTest.java
@@ -16,10 +16,14 @@
 package git4idea.repo;
 
 import com.intellij.dvcs.repo.Repository;
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.Condition;
+import com.intellij.util.containers.ContainerUtil;
 import git4idea.GitLocalBranch;
+import git4idea.GitRemoteBranch;
 import git4idea.test.GitSingleRepoTest;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Collection;
 
 import static git4idea.test.GitExecutor.git;
 import static git4idea.test.GitScenarios.commit;
@@ -46,4 +50,24 @@ public class GitRepositoryReaderNewTest extends GitSingleRepoTest {
     assertEquals("State value is incorrect", Repository.State.REBASING, state);
   }
 
+  // inspired by IDEA-124052
+  public void test_remote_reference_without_remote() {
+    final String INVALID_REMOTE = "invalid-remote";
+    final String INVALID_REMOTE_BRANCH = "master";
+    git("update-ref refs/remotes/" + INVALID_REMOTE + "/" + INVALID_REMOTE_BRANCH + " HEAD");
+
+    File gitDir = new File(myRepo.getRoot().getPath(), ".git");
+    GitRepositoryReader reader = new GitRepositoryReader(gitDir);
+    GitConfig config = GitConfig.read(myPlatformFacade, new File(gitDir, "config"));
+    Collection<GitRemote> remotes = config.parseRemotes();
+
+    Collection<GitRemoteBranch> remoteBranches = reader.readBranches(remotes).getRemoteBranches();
+    assertTrue("Remote branch not found", ContainerUtil.exists(remoteBranches, new Condition<GitRemoteBranch>() {
+      @Override
+      public boolean value(GitRemoteBranch branch) {
+        return branch.getNameForLocalOperations().equals(INVALID_REMOTE + "/" + INVALID_REMOTE_BRANCH);
+      }
+    }));
+  }
+
 }