diff --git a/project/scripts/release b/project/scripts/release
index ef128a20ba..dfa99f27e6 100755
--- a/project/scripts/release
+++ b/project/scripts/release
@@ -335,7 +335,8 @@ if [ $dry_run ]; then
   echodry "  rsync -rlpvz --chmod=Dg+ws,Fg+w --exclude ${release_dir}/downloads --exclude ${release_dir}/docs ${release_dir}/ ${publish_path}/"
 else
   important ssh ${release_server} "cd ${release_path}/docs/akka; git add .; git commit -m 'before publishing version $version'; true"
-  important sbt $RELEASE_OPT "deployRsync ${release_server}"
+  # using Scala 2.13 here to avoid the infamous problem with missing AskSupport in classpath
+  important sbt -Dakka.build.scalaVersion=2.13.0 $RELEASE_OPT "deployRsync ${release_server}"
   important rsync -rlpvz --chmod=Dg+ws,Fg+w --exclude downloads --exclude docs ${release_dir}/ ${publish_path}/
   #important ssh ${release_server} cp -v ${release_path}/docs/akka/${version}/_static/warnOldDocs.js ${release_path}/docs/akka
   #important ssh ${release_server} ln -snvf ../../warnOldDocs.js ${release_path}/docs/akka/${version}/_static/warnOldDocs.js