Redirect from node/* is deleted, if I delete the node.

Hi,
I am using the redirect module to create redirects for some old image nodes that were left over from D6.
Typically, every such node has an alias and a system path. I want to create redirects for both of them, and then delete the node. Destination will be a relevant taxonomy term page.

Unfortunately, it seems that the redirect created for node/123 is removed when I run node_delete().
On the other hand, the redirect created for the node alias is still alive.

Is this intended behavior?

I could of course first delete the node and then create the redirect. But this seems wrong to me. I only want to delete once I know that the redirect has been safely created.

Thanks!