diff --git a/telegram_upload/client/telegram_manager_client.py b/telegram_upload/client/telegram_manager_client.py
index 77ce25de..77237772 100644
--- a/telegram_upload/client/telegram_manager_client.py
+++ b/telegram_upload/client/telegram_manager_client.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import os
 import re
 import sys
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
 from typing import Union
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
@@ -18,7 +17,27 @@
 from telegram_upload.config import SESSION_FILE
 from telegram_upload.exceptions import TelegramProxyError, InvalidApiFileError
 
-if StrictVersion(telethon_version) >= StrictVersion('1.0'):
+
+def _version_parts(version):
+    match = re.match(r'\d+(?:\.\d+)*', str(version).strip())
+    if match is None:
+        return ()
+    return tuple(int(part) for part in match.group(0).split('.'))
+
+
+def _is_telethon_v1_or_newer(version):
+    version_parts = _version_parts(version)
+    if not version_parts:
+        return False
+
+    minimum_parts = (1, 0)
+    padded_length = max(len(version_parts), len(minimum_parts))
+    padded_version = version_parts + (0,) * (padded_length - len(version_parts))
+    padded_minimum = minimum_parts + (0,) * (padded_length - len(minimum_parts))
+    return padded_version >= padded_minimum
+
+
+if _is_telethon_v1_or_newer(telethon_version):
     import telethon.sync  # noqa
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_client/test_telegram_manager_client.py b/tests/test_client/test_telegram_manager_client.py
index c239354f..ee2133a0 100644
--- a/tests/test_client/test_telegram_manager_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client/test_telegram_manager_client.py
@@ -6,8 +6,16 @@
 from telethon.network import ConnectionTcpMTProxyRandomizedIntermediate
 
 from telegram_upload.client import TelegramManagerClient
-from telegram_upload.client.telegram_manager_client import phone_match, parse_proxy_string, USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE, \
-    BOT_USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE, PREMIUM_USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE, USER_MAX_CAPTION_LENGTH, PREMIUM_USER_MAX_CAPTION_LENGTH
+from telegram_upload.client.telegram_manager_client import (
+    BOT_USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE,
+    PREMIUM_USER_MAX_CAPTION_LENGTH,
+    PREMIUM_USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE,
+    USER_MAX_CAPTION_LENGTH,
+    USER_MAX_FILE_SIZE,
+    _is_telethon_v1_or_newer,
+    parse_proxy_string,
+    phone_match,
+)
 from telegram_upload.config import SESSION_FILE
 from telegram_upload.exceptions import TelegramProxyError
 
@@ -53,6 +61,15 @@ def test_proxy(self):
         )
 
 
+class TestTelethonVersion(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_telethon_v1_or_newer(self):
+        self.assertFalse(_is_telethon_v1_or_newer('0.19.1'))
+        self.assertTrue(_is_telethon_v1_or_newer('1.0'))
+        self.assertTrue(_is_telethon_v1_or_newer('1.41.1'))
+        self.assertTrue(_is_telethon_v1_or_newer('1.0.0rc1'))
+        self.assertFalse(_is_telethon_v1_or_newer('dev'))
+
+
 class TestTelegramManagerClient(unittest.TestCase):
     @patch('builtins.open', mock_open(read_data=json.dumps(CONFIG_DATA)))
     @patch('telegram_upload.client.telegram_manager_client.TelegramUploadClient.__init__')