diff --git a/aptly-promote-pipeline.groovy b/aptly-promote-pipeline.groovy
index b68bc81..1d12d97 100644
--- a/aptly-promote-pipeline.groovy
+++ b/aptly-promote-pipeline.groovy
@@ -28,22 +28,24 @@
 timeout(time: 12, unit: 'HOURS') {
     node("docker&&hardware") {
         try {
+            if ("testing" in TARGET && !jenkinsUtils.currentUserInGroup(["release-engineering", "aptly-promote-users"])) {
+                insufficientPermissions = true
+                throw new Exception("Only release-engineering or aptly-promote-users can perform promote to testing.")
+            } else if (!jenkinsUtils.currentUserInGroup(["release-engineering"])) {
+                insufficientPermissions = true
+                throw new Exception("Only release-engineering team can perform promote.")
+            }
             stage("promote") {
                 // promote is restricted to users in aptly-promote-users LDAP group
-                if (jenkinsUtils.currentUserInGroups(["mcp-cicd-admins", "aptly-promote-users"])) {
-                    lock("aptly-api") {
-                        for (storage in storages) {
-                            if (storage == "local") {
-                                storage = ""
-                            }
-                            retry(2) {
-                                aptly.promotePublish(APTLY_URL, SOURCE, TARGET, RECREATE, components, packages, DIFF_ONLY, '-d --timeout 600', DUMP_PUBLISH.toBoolean(), storage)
-                            }
+                lock("aptly-api") {
+                    for (storage in storages) {
+                        if (storage == "local") {
+                            storage = ""
+                        }
+                        retry(2) {
+                            aptly.promotePublish(APTLY_URL, SOURCE, TARGET, RECREATE, components, packages, DIFF_ONLY, '-d --timeout 600', DUMP_PUBLISH.toBoolean(), storage)
                         }
                     }
-                } else {
-                    insufficientPermissions = true
-                    throw new Exception(String.format("You don't have permissions to make aptly promote from source:%s to target:%s! Only CI/CD and QA team can perform aptly promote.", SOURCE, TARGET))
                 }
             }
         } catch (Throwable e) {