diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2058924f..3f8ee7a6 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,16 +15,11 @@ Extra supported commands are:
 from codecs import open
 from sys import argv
 import os
+import re
 
 # Always prefer setuptools over distutils
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
 
-try:
-    from telethon import TelegramClient
-except Exception as e:
-    print('Failed to import TelegramClient due to', e)
-    TelegramClient = None
-
 
 class TempWorkDir:
     """Switches the working directory to be the one on which this file lives,
@@ -94,21 +89,15 @@ def main():
         fetch_errors(ERRORS_JSON)
 
     else:
-        if not TelegramClient:
-            gen_tl()
-            from telethon import TelegramClient as TgClient
-            version = TgClient.__version__
-        else:
-            version = TelegramClient.__version__
-
         # Get the long description from the README file
         with open('README.rst', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             long_description = f.read()
 
+        with open('telethon/version.py', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            version = re.search(r"^__version__\s+=\s+'(.*)'$",
+                                f.read(), flags=re.MULTILINE).group(1)
         setup(
             name='Telethon',
-
-            # Versions should comply with PEP440.
             version=version,
             description="Full-featured Telegram client library for Python 3",
             long_description=long_description,
diff --git a/telethon/__init__.py b/telethon/__init__.py
index c8593168..1210fa90 100644
--- a/telethon/__init__.py
+++ b/telethon/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 from .telegram_bare_client import TelegramBareClient
 from .telegram_client import TelegramClient
 from .network import ConnectionMode
-from . import tl
+from . import tl, version
+
+
+__version__ = version.__version__
diff --git a/telethon/telegram_bare_client.py b/telethon/telegram_bare_client.py
index a589fa9e..7ebf5ec1 100644
--- a/telethon/telegram_bare_client.py
+++ b/telethon/telegram_bare_client.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from signal import signal, SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGABRT
 from threading import Lock
 from time import sleep
 
-from . import helpers as utils
+from . import helpers as utils, version
 from .crypto import rsa, CdnDecrypter
 from .errors import (
     RPCError, BrokenAuthKeyError, ServerError,
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class TelegramBareClient:
     """
 
     # Current TelegramClient version
-    __version__ = '0.15.3'
+    __version__ = version.__version__
 
     # TODO Make this thread-safe, all connections share the same DC
     _config = None  # Server configuration (with .dc_options)
diff --git a/telethon/version.py b/telethon/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2bde1b96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/telethon/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Versions should comply with PEP440.
+# This line is parsed in setup.py:
+__version__ = '0.15.3'