diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/247-sanity-checks-2.12-13.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/247-sanity-checks-2.12-13.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7a95823
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/247-sanity-checks-2.12-13.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - digital_ocean - add sanity test ignores for Ansible 2.12 and 2.13 (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.digitalocean/issues/247).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/digital_ocean.py b/plugins/modules/digital_ocean.py
index dd716e77..1c33f2c7 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/digital_ocean.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/digital_ocean.py
@@ -189,7 +189,12 @@
 import time
 import traceback
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+try:
+    from packaging.version import Version
+
+    HAS_PACKAGING = True
+except ImportError:
+    HAS_PACKAGING = False
 
 try:
     # Imported as a dependency for dopy
@@ -204,8 +209,14 @@
     import dopy
     from dopy.manager import DoError, DoManager
 
-    if LooseVersion(dopy.__version__) >= LooseVersion("0.3.2"):
-        HAS_DOPY = True
+    # NOTE: Expressing Python dependencies isn't really possible:
+    # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/62733#issuecomment-537098744
+    if HAS_PACKAGING:
+        if Version(dopy.__version__) >= Version("0.3.2"):
+            HAS_DOPY = True
+    else:
+        if dopy.__version__ >= "0.3.2":  # Naive lexographical check
+            HAS_DOPY = True
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
diff --git a/tests/sanity/ignore-2.12.txt b/tests/sanity/ignore-2.12.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6fa08266
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/sanity/ignore-2.12.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py compile-2.6!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py compile-2.6!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py compile-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py compile-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py compile-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py compile-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py import-2.6!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py import-2.6!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py import-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py import-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py import-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py import-3.5!skip
diff --git a/tests/sanity/ignore-2.13.txt b/tests/sanity/ignore-2.13.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56f00467
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/sanity/ignore-2.13.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py compile-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py compile-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py compile-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py compile-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py import-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py import-2.7!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces.py import-3.5!skip
+plugins/modules/digital_ocean_spaces_info.py import-3.5!skip