diff --git a/zabbix-repo/tasks/main.yml b/zabbix-repo/tasks/main.yml
index 49cd86161acfa121ca786c85804c25ff43de37f7..72183c0d7274fc0ad18caa10124c46a599d53da9 100644
--- a/zabbix-repo/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/zabbix-repo/tasks/main.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   apt_key:
     data: "{{ lookup('file', 'zabbix.gpg') }}"
     state: present
-  when: debian_version == "stretch"
+  when: zabbix_external_repo
   notify:
     - update apt cache
   tags:
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
   apt_repository:
     repo: "{{ item }}"
     # yamllint disable-line rule:line-length
-    state: '{{ "present" if debian_version == "stretch" else "absent" }}'
+    state: '{{ "present" if zabbix_external_repo else "absent" }}'
   with_items:
     # yamllint disable-line rule:line-length
     - 'deb http://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/{{ zabbix_version }}/debian {{ debian_version }} main'
diff --git a/zabbix-repo/vars/main.yml b/zabbix-repo/vars/main.yml
index 443d97049bc9d7ff53f73646395b38cb47a8fddf..88b3b3b09715534cd533a2a694420b0a8ab1cb02 100644
--- a/zabbix-repo/vars/main.yml
+++ b/zabbix-repo/vars/main.yml
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 
 old_zabbix_version: "3.4"
 zabbix_version: "4.0"
+zabbix_external_repo: false