diff --git a/borg/remote.py b/borg/remote.py
index 19a1416a0..c9d8145ba 100644
--- a/borg/remote.py
+++ b/borg/remote.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import fcntl
 import msgpack
 import os
 import select
+import shlex
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -160,7 +161,7 @@ class RemoteRepository:
         return ['--umask', '%03o' % self.umask]
 
     def ssh_cmd(self, location):
-        args = ['ssh']
+        args = shlex.split(os.environ.get('BORG_RSH', 'ssh'))
         if location.port:
             args += ['-p', str(location.port)]
         if location.user:
diff --git a/borg/testsuite/repository.py b/borg/testsuite/repository.py
index 5df0a6f97..5a1524ed9 100644
--- a/borg/testsuite/repository.py
+++ b/borg/testsuite/repository.py
@@ -328,6 +328,8 @@ class RemoteRepositoryTestCase(RepositoryTestCase):
     def test_ssh_cmd(self):
         assert self.repository.umask is not None
         assert self.repository.ssh_cmd(Location('example.com:foo')) == ['ssh', 'example.com', 'borg', 'serve'] + self.repository.umask_flag()
+        os.environ['BORG_RSH'] = 'ssh --foo'
+        assert self.repository.ssh_cmd(Location('example.com:foo')) == ['ssh', '--foo', 'example.com', 'borg', 'serve'] + self.repository.umask_flag()
 
 
 class RemoteRepositoryCheckTestCase(RepositoryCheckTestCase):
diff --git a/docs/usage.rst b/docs/usage.rst
index 95b95d90d..6bd292e14 100644
--- a/docs/usage.rst
+++ b/docs/usage.rst
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ General:
         can either leave it away or abbreviate as `::`, if a positional parameter is required.
     BORG_PASSPHRASE
         When set, use the value to answer the passphrase question for encrypted repositories.
+    BORG_RSH
+        When set, use this command instead of ``ssh``.
     TMPDIR
         where temporary files are stored (might need a lot of temporary space for some operations)