diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api.proto b/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api.proto
index 9e7b26aa72e..f7a620b5e2e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api.proto
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api.proto
@@ -152,8 +152,16 @@ service ImageService {
     // RemoveImage removes the image.
     // This call is idempotent, and must not return an error if the image has
     // already been removed.
+    // Note that if the image is referenced by multiple tags (even across different repositories
+    // if they resolve to the same image digest), removing the image by a single tag
+    // will remove all of its tags. For example, if `repo/image:v1` and `another_repo/image:latest`
+    // point to the same image, removing `repo/image:v1` will also remove `another_repo/image:latest`.
+    // The next call to ListImages, ImageStatus, ImageFsInfo will not return this image.
+    // The resources (e.g. disk space) may be cleaned asynchronously
+    // and not guaranteed to be cleaned up by the time this method returns.
     rpc RemoveImage(RemoveImageRequest) returns (RemoveImageResponse) {}
     // ImageFSInfo returns information of the filesystem that is used to store images.
+    // Usage information may include images that were removed, but are still being cleaned up.
     rpc ImageFsInfo(ImageFsInfoRequest) returns (ImageFsInfoResponse) {}
 }
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api_grpc.pb.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api_grpc.pb.go
index ace6e120693..631b72b0ac0 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api_grpc.pb.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1/api_grpc.pb.go
@@ -1432,8 +1432,16 @@ type ImageServiceClient interface {
 	// RemoveImage removes the image.
 	// This call is idempotent, and must not return an error if the image has
 	// already been removed.
+	// Note that if the image is referenced by multiple tags (even across different repositories
+	// if they resolve to the same image digest), removing the image by a single tag
+	// will remove all of its tags. For example, if `repo/image:v1` and `another_repo/image:latest`
+	// point to the same image, removing `repo/image:v1` will also remove `another_repo/image:latest`.
+	// The next call to ListImages, ImageStatus, ImageFsInfo will not return this image.
+	// The resources (e.g. disk space) may be cleaned asynchronously
+	// and not guaranteed to be cleaned up by the time this method returns.
 	RemoveImage(ctx context.Context, in *RemoveImageRequest, opts ...grpc.CallOption) (*RemoveImageResponse, error)
 	// ImageFSInfo returns information of the filesystem that is used to store images.
+	// Usage information may include images that were removed, but are still being cleaned up.
 	ImageFsInfo(ctx context.Context, in *ImageFsInfoRequest, opts ...grpc.CallOption) (*ImageFsInfoResponse, error)
 }
 
@@ -1512,8 +1520,16 @@ type ImageServiceServer interface {
 	// RemoveImage removes the image.
 	// This call is idempotent, and must not return an error if the image has
 	// already been removed.
+	// Note that if the image is referenced by multiple tags (even across different repositories
+	// if they resolve to the same image digest), removing the image by a single tag
+	// will remove all of its tags. For example, if `repo/image:v1` and `another_repo/image:latest`
+	// point to the same image, removing `repo/image:v1` will also remove `another_repo/image:latest`.
+	// The next call to ListImages, ImageStatus, ImageFsInfo will not return this image.
+	// The resources (e.g. disk space) may be cleaned asynchronously
+	// and not guaranteed to be cleaned up by the time this method returns.
 	RemoveImage(context.Context, *RemoveImageRequest) (*RemoveImageResponse, error)
 	// ImageFSInfo returns information of the filesystem that is used to store images.
+	// Usage information may include images that were removed, but are still being cleaned up.
 	ImageFsInfo(context.Context, *ImageFsInfoRequest) (*ImageFsInfoResponse, error)
 	mustEmbedUnimplementedImageServiceServer()
 }