diff --git a/roles/container-engine/cri-o/templates/crio.conf.j2 b/roles/container-engine/cri-o/templates/crio.conf.j2
index 81d5a421e0b4275157971ac94aba8aa45086b3f5..6f9b84f14eb80b48764eef22c68e436340674210 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/cri-o/templates/crio.conf.j2
+++ b/roles/container-engine/cri-o/templates/crio.conf.j2
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ enable_metrics = {{ crio_enable_metrics | bool | lower }}
 # The port on which the metrics server will listen.
 metrics_port = {{ crio_metrics_port }}
 
-{% if nri_enabled and crio_version >= v1.26.0 %}
+{% if nri_enabled and crio_version is version('v1.26.0', operator='>=') %}
 [crio.nri]
 
 enable_nri=true