diff --git a/ngraph/test/CMakeLists.txt b/ngraph/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 6fbef735581714..acdabe9fb81ced 100644
--- a/ngraph/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ngraph/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -613,9 +613,6 @@ if (NGRAPH_ONNX_IMPORT_ENABLE AND NOT NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
             ${Protobuf_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     target_compile_definitions(unit-test
         PRIVATE $<TARGET_PROPERTY:onnx,INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS>)
-
-    get_target_property(ONNX_IMPORTER_SRC_DIR onnx_importer SOURCE_DIR)
-    target_include_directories(unit-test PRIVATE ${ONNX_IMPORTER_SRC_DIR}/src)
 endif()
 
 if (OV_COMPILER_IS_CLANG)
@@ -623,6 +620,9 @@ if (OV_COMPILER_IS_CLANG)
 endif()
 
 if (NGRAPH_ONNX_IMPORT_ENABLE)
+    get_target_property(ONNX_IMPORTER_SRC_DIR onnx_importer SOURCE_DIR)
+    target_include_directories(unit-test PRIVATE ${ONNX_IMPORTER_SRC_DIR}/src)
+
     target_link_libraries(unit-test PRIVATE onnx_importer)
 endif()
 
diff --git a/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt b/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
index d35947dca9e38b..a0a00af5321a1c 100644
--- a/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ if(NGRAPH_PDPD_FRONTEND_ENABLE OR NGRAPH_ONNX_IMPORT_ENABLE)
         if(VERBOSE_BUILD)
             set(Protobuf_DEBUG ON)
         endif()
-        find_package(Protobuf REQUIRED)
+        find_package(Protobuf 3.9.0 REQUIRED)
         if(NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
             set(Protobuf_LIBRARIES protobuf::libprotobuf-lite)
         else()
@@ -162,11 +162,6 @@ if(NGRAPH_PDPD_FRONTEND_ENABLE OR NGRAPH_ONNX_IMPORT_ENABLE)
             target_compile_options(${target} ${link_type} -Wno-undef)
         endif()
     endforeach()
-
-    # version checks
-    if(protobuf_VERSION VERSION_LESS "3.9" AND NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Minimum supported version of protobuf-lite library is 3.9.0 (provided ${protobuf_VERSION})")
-    endif()
 endif()
 
 #
diff --git a/thirdparty/protobuf/CMakeLists.txt b/thirdparty/protobuf/CMakeLists.txt
index f3cec9914a16f5..da562377b284b4 100644
--- a/thirdparty/protobuf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/thirdparty/protobuf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ if(NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
         VISIBILITY_INLINES_HIDDEN OFF)
 endif()
 
+if(protobuf_VERSION VERSION_LESS "3.9" AND NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Minimum supported version of protobuf-lite library is 3.9.0 (provided ${protobuf_VERSION})")
+endif()
+
 if(ENABLE_LTO AND protobuf_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.8")
     message(WARNING "Protobuf in version 3.8.0+ can throw runtime exceptions if LTO is enabled.")
 endif()