diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
index ba13806276..ed6a210bb0 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_basebackup.c
@@ -1679,9 +1679,9 @@ GenerateRecoveryConf(PGconn *conn)
 
 	if (replication_slot)
 	{
-		escaped = escape_quotes(replication_slot);
-		appendPQExpBuffer(recoveryconfcontents, "primary_slot_name = '%s'\n", replication_slot);
-		free(escaped);
+		/* unescaped: ReplicationSlotValidateName allows [a-z0-9_] only */
+		appendPQExpBuffer(recoveryconfcontents, "primary_slot_name = '%s'\n",
+						  replication_slot);
 	}
 
 	if (PQExpBufferBroken(recoveryconfcontents) ||