diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/issue-3214 b/changelog/unreleased/issue-3214
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..82c00291b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/issue-3214
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Bugfix: Treat an empty password as a fatal error for repository init
+
+When attempting to initialize a new repository, if an empty password was
+supplied, the repository would be created but the init command would return
+an error with a stack trace. Now, if an empty password is provided, it is
+treated as a fatal error, and no repository is created.
+
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3214
+https://github.com/restic/restic/pull/3283
diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_init.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_init.go
index 1bdb2f208..bbab3711d 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_init.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_init.go
@@ -53,11 +53,6 @@ func runInit(opts InitOptions, gopts GlobalOptions, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	be, err := create(repo, gopts.extended)
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Fatalf("create repository at %s failed: %v\n", location.StripPassword(gopts.Repo), err)
-	}
-
 	gopts.password, err = ReadPasswordTwice(gopts,
 		"enter password for new repository: ",
 		"enter password again: ")
@@ -65,6 +60,11 @@ func runInit(opts InitOptions, gopts GlobalOptions, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	be, err := create(repo, gopts.extended)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Fatalf("create repository at %s failed: %v\n", location.StripPassword(gopts.Repo), err)
+	}
+
 	s := repository.New(be)
 
 	err = s.Init(gopts.ctx, gopts.password, chunkerPolynomial)
diff --git a/cmd/restic/global.go b/cmd/restic/global.go
index 5843134ea..7f195d97b 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/global.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/global.go
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ func ReadPassword(opts GlobalOptions, prompt string) (string, error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(password) == 0 {
-		return "", errors.New("an empty password is not a password")
+		return "", errors.Fatal("an empty password is not a password")
 	}
 
 	return password, nil