diff --git a/src/network/networkd-routing-policy-rule.c b/src/network/networkd-routing-policy-rule.c
index dd15574817..3941245733 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-routing-policy-rule.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-routing-policy-rule.c
@@ -1244,15 +1244,18 @@ void routing_policy_rule_purge(Manager *m, Link *link) {
 
         SET_FOREACH(rule, m->rules_saved, i) {
                 existing = set_get(m->rules_foreign, rule);
-                if (existing) {
+                if (!existing)
+                        continue; /* Saved rule does not exist anymore. */
 
-                        r = routing_policy_rule_remove(rule, link, NULL);
-                        if (r < 0) {
-                                log_warning_errno(r, "Could not remove routing policy rules: %m");
-                                continue;
-                        }
-
-                        link->routing_policy_rule_remove_messages++;
+                r = routing_policy_rule_remove(existing, link, NULL);
+                if (r < 0) {
+                        log_warning_errno(r, "Could not remove routing policy rules: %m");
+                        continue;
                 }
+
+                link->routing_policy_rule_remove_messages++;
+
+                assert_se(set_remove(m->rules_foreign, existing) == existing);
+                routing_policy_rule_free(existing);
         }
 }