diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 808da6b..6041b9e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,9 +1,19 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
-0.61.4 (2026-02-16)
+0.61.5 (2026-02-18)
 -------------------
 ------------------------
+- Fix empty repository crash due to None timestamp comparison (#489)
+  [Rodos]
+
+  Empty repositories have None for pushed_at/updated_at, causing a
+  TypeError when compared to the last_update string. Use .get() with
+  truthiness check to skip None timestamps in incremental tracking.
+
+
+0.61.4 (2026-02-16)
+-------------------
 - Fix HTTP 451 DMCA and 403 TOS handling regression (#487) [Rodos]
 
   The DMCA handling added in PR #454 had a bug: make_request_with_retry()
diff --git a/github_backup/__init__.py b/github_backup/__init__.py
index 03f7dee..294be4d 100644
--- a/github_backup/__init__.py
+++ b/github_backup/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.61.4"
+__version__ = "0.61.5"
diff --git a/github_backup/github_backup.py b/github_backup/github_backup.py
index ada2d40..4d5394e 100644
--- a/github_backup/github_backup.py
+++ b/github_backup/github_backup.py
@@ -1772,9 +1772,9 @@ def backup_repositories(args, output_directory, repositories):
 
     last_update = "0000-00-00T00:00:00Z"
     for repository in repositories:
-        if "updated_at" in repository and repository["updated_at"] > last_update:
+        if repository.get("updated_at") and repository["updated_at"] > last_update:
             last_update = repository["updated_at"]
-        elif "pushed_at" in repository and repository["pushed_at"] > last_update:
+        elif repository.get("pushed_at") and repository["pushed_at"] > last_update:
             last_update = repository["pushed_at"]
 
         if repository.get("is_gist"):