diff --git a/pyroute2/__init__.py b/pyroute2/__init__.py
index 84bddd723..431228108 100644
--- a/pyroute2/__init__.py
+++ b/pyroute2/__init__.py
@@ -11,10 +11,23 @@
     from pyroute2.config.version import __version__
 except ImportError:
     __version__ = 'unknown'
+import sys
 
-from pyroute2 import loader
 from pyroute2.cli.console import Console
 from pyroute2.cli.server import Server
+
+##
+#
+# Logging setup
+#
+# See the history:
+#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/246
+#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/255
+#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/270
+#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/573
+#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/601
+#
+from pyroute2.config import log
 from pyroute2.conntrack import Conntrack, ConntrackEntry
 from pyroute2.devlink import DL
 from pyroute2.ethtool.ethtool import Ethtool
@@ -58,6 +71,17 @@
 from pyroute2.plan9.server import Plan9ServerSocket
 from pyroute2.wiset import WiSet
 
+##
+#
+# Windows platform specific: socket module monkey patching
+#
+# To use the library on Windows, run::
+#   pip install win-inet-pton
+#
+if sys.platform.startswith('win'):  # noqa: E402
+    import win_inet_pton  # noqa: F401
+
+
 modules = [
     AcpiEventSocket,
     AsyncIPRoute,
@@ -106,8 +130,8 @@
     UeventSocket,
     WireGuard,
     WiSet,
+    log,
 ]
 
-loader.init()
 __all__ = []
 __all__.extend(modules)
diff --git a/pyroute2/cli/server.py b/pyroute2/cli/server.py
index ea5b8ad0b..787e3b41c 100644
--- a/pyroute2/cli/server.py
+++ b/pyroute2/cli/server.py
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
 import json
+from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
+from http.server import HTTPServer as HTTPServer
 
 from pyroute2.cli.session import Session
 from pyroute2.ndb.main import NDB
 
-try:
-    from BaseHTTPServer import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
-    from BaseHTTPServer import HTTPServer as HTTPServer
-except ImportError:
-    from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
-    from http.server import HTTPServer as HTTPServer
-
 
 class ProxyEncoder(object):
     def __init__(self, wfile):
diff --git a/pyroute2/dhcp/__init__.py b/pyroute2/dhcp/__init__.py
index 526460238..fab6bd7cd 100644
--- a/pyroute2/dhcp/__init__.py
+++ b/pyroute2/dhcp/__init__.py
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ class array8(option):
 
 import logging
 import struct
-import sys
 from array import array
 from typing import ClassVar, NamedTuple, Optional, TypedDict, TypeVar, Union
 
@@ -188,7 +187,7 @@ def encode(self: _optionSelf) -> _optionSelf:
                 fmt = '%is' % len(value)
             else:
                 fmt = self.policy.format
-            if sys.version_info[0] == 3 and isinstance(value, str):
+            if isinstance(value, str):
                 value = value.encode('utf-8')
             self.buf = struct.pack(fmt, value)
         else:
diff --git a/pyroute2/iproute/bsd.py b/pyroute2/iproute/bsd.py
index 8b3189c4b..f01650f9d 100644
--- a/pyroute2/iproute/bsd.py
+++ b/pyroute2/iproute/bsd.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 
 import errno
 import os
+import queue
 import select
 import struct
 import threading
@@ -71,11 +72,6 @@
 from pyroute2.netlink.rtnl.ndmsg import ndmsg
 from pyroute2.netlink.rtnl.rtmsg import rtmsg
 
-try:
-    import queue
-except ImportError:
-    import Queue as queue
-
 
 class IPRoute(object):
     def __init__(self, *argv, **kwarg):
diff --git a/pyroute2/loader.py b/pyroute2/loader.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 57fa5fe58..000000000
--- a/pyroute2/loader.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-import struct
-import sys
-
-##
-#
-# Logging setup
-#
-# See the history:
-#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/246
-#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/255
-#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/270
-#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/573
-#  * https://github.com/svinota/pyroute2/issues/601
-#
-from pyroute2.config import log
-
-##
-#
-# Windows platform specific: socket module monkey patching
-#
-# To use the library on Windows, run::
-#   pip install win-inet-pton
-#
-if sys.platform.startswith('win'):  # noqa: E402
-    import win_inet_pton  # noqa: F401
-
-
-def init():
-    try:
-        # probe, if the bytearray can be used in struct.unpack_from()
-        struct.unpack_from('I', bytearray((1, 0, 0, 0)), 0)
-    except Exception:
-        if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-            # monkeypatch for old Python versions
-            log.warning('patching struct.unpack_from()')
-
-            def wrapped(fmt, buf, offset=0):
-                return struct._u_f_orig(fmt, str(buf), offset)
-
-            struct._u_f_orig = struct.unpack_from
-            struct.unpack_from = wrapped
-        else:
-            raise
diff --git a/pyroute2/ndb/main.py b/pyroute2/ndb/main.py
index c738ac0c4..3d26ea84f 100644
--- a/pyroute2/ndb/main.py
+++ b/pyroute2/ndb/main.py
@@ -273,7 +273,9 @@
 import ctypes.util
 import logging
 import logging.handlers
+import queue
 import threading
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 from pyroute2.common import basestring
 
@@ -287,16 +289,6 @@
 from .transaction import Transaction
 from .view import SourcesView, View
 
-try:
-    from urlparse import urlparse
-except ImportError:
-    from urllib.parse import urlparse
-
-try:
-    import queue
-except ImportError:
-    import Queue as queue
-
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/pyroute2/ndb/schema.py b/pyroute2/ndb/schema.py
index 4a6692af2..3e7852467 100644
--- a/pyroute2/ndb/schema.py
+++ b/pyroute2/ndb/schema.py
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ def fetch(self, *argv, **kwarg):
 
     @publish
     def backup(self, spec):
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 7) and self.provider == DBProvider.sqlite3:
+        if self.provider == DBProvider.sqlite3:
             backup_connection = sqlite3.connect(spec)
             self.connection.backup(backup_connection)
             backup_connection.close()
diff --git a/pyroute2/netlink/__init__.py b/pyroute2/netlink/__init__.py
index f70d8d38e..2266445d1 100644
--- a/pyroute2/netlink/__init__.py
+++ b/pyroute2/netlink/__init__.py
@@ -503,8 +503,7 @@ class NotInitialized(Exception):
 ##
 # That's a hack for the code linter, which works under
 # Python3, see unicode reference in the code below
-if sys.version[0] == '3':
-    unicode = str
+unicode = str
 
 NLMSG_MIN_TYPE = 0x10
 
@@ -2336,11 +2335,10 @@ def encode(self):
         def decode(self):
             nla_base_string.decode(self)
             self.value = self['value']
-            if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-                try:
-                    self.value = self.value.decode('utf-8')
-                except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                    pass  # Failed to decode, keep undecoded value
+            try:
+                self.value = self.value.decode('utf-8')
+            except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                pass  # Failed to decode, keep undecoded value
 
     class asciiz(string):
         '''
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index cd613d24a..f508ff8b9 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ classifiers =
 [options]
 install_requires =
     win_inet_pton ; platform_system == "Windows"
-    importlib-metadata ; python_version < "3.8"
 packages_dir =
     =pyroute2
 packages = find:
diff --git a/setup.minimal.cfg b/setup.minimal.cfg
index 23cc1ed7a..12dc2ad10 100644
--- a/setup.minimal.cfg
+++ b/setup.minimal.cfg
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ classifiers =
 [options]
 install_requires =
     win_inet_pton ; platform_system == "Windows"
-    importlib-metadata ; python_version < "3.8"
 packages_dir =
     =pyroute2
 packages =
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index bf73b5cde..f888c2118 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Requirements
 ============
 
 * nox
-* python >= 3.8
+* python >= 3.9
 * `-r requirements.dev.txt`
 
 Run tests
diff --git a/tests/test_linux/pr2test/context_manager.py b/tests/test_linux/pr2test/context_manager.py
index 5e4784e5e..c3b0fb300 100644
--- a/tests/test_linux/pr2test/context_manager.py
+++ b/tests/test_linux/pr2test/context_manager.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import itertools
 import logging
 import os
-import sys
 import uuid
 from collections import namedtuple
 from socket import AF_INET, AF_INET6
@@ -313,7 +312,7 @@ def teardown(self):
         2. remove the registered interfaces, ignore not existing
         '''
         # save postmortem DB for SQLite3
-        if self.db_provider == 'sqlite3' and sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
+        if self.db_provider == 'sqlite3':
             self.ndb.backup(f'{self.spec.uid}-post.db')
         self.ndb.close()
         self.ipr.close()
diff --git a/tests/test_linux/test_dquot/test_dquot.py b/tests/test_linux/test_dquot/test_dquot.py
index fd9749b89..f88aec7b1 100644
--- a/tests/test_linux/test_dquot/test_dquot.py
+++ b/tests/test_linux/test_dquot/test_dquot.py
@@ -1,20 +1,10 @@
 import os
 import subprocess
-import sys
 
 import pytest
-from pr2test.marks import require_root
 
 from pyroute2 import DQuotSocket
 
-pytestmark = [
-    pytest.mark.skipif(
-        sys.version_info < (3, 7),
-        reason='the test module requires Python > 3.6',
-    ),
-    require_root(),
-]
-
 
 class DQuotContextManager:
     def __init__(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_linux/test_ndb/test_backup.py b/tests/test_linux/test_ndb/test_backup.py
index b2be41380..25595c95c 100644
--- a/tests/test_linux/test_ndb/test_backup.py
+++ b/tests/test_linux/test_ndb/test_backup.py
@@ -1,14 +1,7 @@
 import sqlite3
-import sys
 import uuid
 
-import pytest
 
-
-@pytest.mark.skipif(
-    sys.version_info < (3, 7),
-    reason='SQLite3 backup not supported on this Python version',
-)
 def test_file_backup(context):
     filename = str(uuid.uuid4()) + '-backup.db'
     context.ndb.backup(filename)
diff --git a/tests/test_repo/test_noxfile.py b/tests/test_repo/test_noxfile.py
index a25d6d445..604407694 100644
--- a/tests/test_repo/test_noxfile.py
+++ b/tests/test_repo/test_noxfile.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import collections
 import inspect
 import os
-import sys
 
 import nox
 import pytest
@@ -24,9 +23,6 @@ def session(request):
     )
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(
-    sys.version_info < (3, 8), reason='unsupported Python version'
-)
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('session', nox_sessions, indirect=True)
 def test_options_call(session):
     # walk the AST tree
@@ -53,9 +49,6 @@ def test_session_parameters(session):
         assert args == ['session']
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(
-    sys.version_info < (3, 8), reason='unsupported Python version'
-)
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('session', nox_sessions, indirect=True)
 def test_requirements_files(session):
     for node in ast.walk(ast.parse(inspect.getsource(session.src_func))):
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index ca67a7ff2..77e2ac0f0 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 import re
 import stat
 import subprocess
-import sys
 import uuid
 from socket import AF_INET, AF_INET6
 
@@ -105,11 +104,6 @@ def require_kernel(major, minor=None):
         pytest.skip('incompatible kernel version')
 
 
-def require_python(target):
-    if sys.version_info[0] != target:
-        pytest.skip('test requires Python %i' % target)
-
-
 def require_8021q():
     try:
         os.stat('/proc/net/vlan/config')