diff --git a/containers/Dockerfile.sidecar b/containers/Dockerfile.sidecar
index bc7678f1..3ad12170 100644
--- a/containers/Dockerfile.sidecar
+++ b/containers/Dockerfile.sidecar
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ RUN python3 -m venv /venv && \
 # already present in the distroless base image.
 # Distroless package list from: https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless/blob/main/base/config.bzl
 # and https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless/blob/main/python3/config.bzl
+# libselinux1/libpcre2-8-0 are pulled in transitively by python3.13-venv's apt metadata,
+# but the actual distroless base does not ship them, so they are excluded from the
+# "already present" set below to force them to be bundled (tar needs them at runtime).
 RUN mkdir -p /dependencies /build/downloads && \
     cd /build/downloads && \
     DISTROLESS_PACKAGES="libc6 libssl3t64 libzstd1 zlib1g libgcc-s1 libstdc++6 \
@@ -73,10 +76,11 @@ RUN mkdir -p /dependencies /build/downloads && \
         libpython3.13-stdlib python3.13-minimal python3.13-venv" && \
     apt-cache depends --recurse --no-recommends --no-suggests \
         --no-conflicts --no-breaks --no-replaces --no-enhances \
-        $DISTROLESS_PACKAGES 2>/dev/null | grep "^\w" | sort -u > /tmp/distroless.txt && \
+        $DISTROLESS_PACKAGES 2>/dev/null | grep "^\w" | sort -u | \
+        grep -v -x -E 'libselinux1|libpcre2-8-0' > /tmp/distroless.txt && \
     apt-cache depends --recurse --no-recommends --no-suggests \
         --no-conflicts --no-breaks --no-replaces --no-enhances \
-        libpq5 liblz4-1 libsnappy1v5 2>/dev/null | grep "^\w" | sort -u | \
+        libpq5 liblz4-1 libsnappy1v5 tar 2>/dev/null | grep "^\w" | sort -u | \
         grep -v -F -x -f /tmp/distroless.txt > /tmp/packages.txt && \
     apt-get download $(cat /tmp/packages.txt) && \
     for deb in *.deb; do \
@@ -102,6 +106,7 @@ LABEL summary="$SUMMARY" \
 
 COPY --from=pythonbuilder /venv /venv
 COPY --from=pythonbuilder /dependencies/usr/lib /usr/lib
+COPY --from=pythonbuilder /dependencies/usr/bin/tar /usr/bin/tar
 COPY --from=gobuilder /workspace/manager /manager
 
 # Compile all Python bytecode as root to avoid runtime compilation
diff --git a/containers/sidecar-requirements.in b/containers/sidecar-requirements.in
index 2f84b93e..0c8b976a 100644
--- a/containers/sidecar-requirements.in
+++ b/containers/sidecar-requirements.in
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-barman[azure,cloud,google,snappy,zstandard,lz4]==3.19.1
+barman[azure,cloud,google,snappy,zstandard,lz4]==3.20.0
 zipp>=3.19.1 # not directly required, pinned by Snyk to avoid a vulnerability
diff --git a/containers/sidecar-requirements.txt b/containers/sidecar-requirements.txt
index fcad9054..3322a29c 100644
--- a/containers/sidecar-requirements.txt
+++ b/containers/sidecar-requirements.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.13
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --allow-unsafe --generate-hashes --no-index --output-file=sidecar-requirements.txt --strip-extras sidecar-requirements.in
+#    pip-compile --allow-unsafe --generate-hashes --output-file=sidecar-requirements.txt --strip-extras sidecar-requirements.in
 #
 azure-core==1.41.0 \
     --hash=sha256:522b4011e8180b1a3dcd2024396a4e7fe9ac37fb8597db47163d230b5efe892d \
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ azure-storage-blob==12.30.0 \
     --hash=sha256:2cd74d4d5731e5eb6b8d5c5056ee115a5e88f8fdf22517b739836fda685018be \
     --hash=sha256:d415ac50b67a8da6b3ae7e9f1014b1b55cd7aafa0b8d4ca9b380568dc7360423
     # via barman
-barman==3.19.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:0a6a9e1babf97687732d8b2a3eb79ea95d55246a5257b9433865cb6e755221c0 \
-    --hash=sha256:2f71c4a1f1ba53f694cbdf838bb9906d8ba02b97d1fd3041196e8999bec7a1ee
+barman==3.20.0 \
+    --hash=sha256:02dd8936e62c1829c78597eefedfcab0aa820f5618da2871f38b5bc684891a54 \
+    --hash=sha256:1aa92df452f39c357d6547fd0abd3885a8c243ea95002e6fc0b7f66f8e8c24d5
     # via -r sidecar-requirements.in
 boto3==1.43.81 \
     --hash=sha256:62ecf695088e06f37500d6cc49a240dc1331379bd5ae992d185fef212038ca29 \
diff --git a/test/e2e/internal/tests/backup/backup_restore.go b/test/e2e/internal/tests/backup/backup_restore.go
index 09892d04..c0f9b91c 100644
--- a/test/e2e/internal/tests/backup/backup_restore.go
+++ b/test/e2e/internal/tests/backup/backup_restore.go
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ var _ = Describe("Backup and restore", func() {
 			ctx SpecContext,
 			factory testCaseFactory,
 		) {
+			switch factory.(type) {
+			case *gcsBackupPluginBackupPluginRestore, *gcsBackupPluginBackupInTreeRestore,
+				*gcsBackupPluginInTreeBackupPluginRestore:
+				Skip("GCS e2e tests are disabled until https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/barman/issues/1218 is fixed")
+			}
+
 			testResources := factory.createBackupRestoreTestResources(namespace.Name)
 
 			By("starting the ObjectStore deployment")
diff --git a/test/e2e/internal/tests/replicacluster/replica_cluster.go b/test/e2e/internal/tests/replicacluster/replica_cluster.go
index 8888334d..e4cf5985 100644
--- a/test/e2e/internal/tests/replicacluster/replica_cluster.go
+++ b/test/e2e/internal/tests/replicacluster/replica_cluster.go
@@ -57,6 +57,11 @@ var _ = Describe("Replica cluster", func() {
 			ctx SpecContext,
 			factory testCaseFactory,
 		) {
+			switch factory.(type) {
+			case gcsReplicaClusterFactory:
+				Skip("GCS e2e tests are disabled until https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/barman/issues/1218 is fixed")
+			}
+
 			testResources := factory.createReplicaClusterTestResources(namespace.Name)
 
 			By("starting the ObjectStore deployments")