diff --git a/.ci/pitest-suppressions/pitest-coding-1-suppressions.xml b/.ci/pitest-suppressions/pitest-coding-1-suppressions.xml
index ba2f9691678..03c4e89177d 100644
--- a/.ci/pitest-suppressions/pitest-coding-1-suppressions.xml
+++ b/.ci/pitest-suppressions/pitest-coding-1-suppressions.xml
@@ -45,15 +45,6 @@
     <lineContent>while (result</lineContent>
   </mutation>
 
-  <mutation unstable="false">
-    <sourceFile>VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java</sourceFile>
-    <mutatedClass>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.coding.VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck</mutatedClass>
-    <mutatedMethod>isVariableInOperatorExpr</mutatedMethod>
-    <mutator>org.pitest.mutationtest.engine.gregor.mutators.RemoveConditionalMutator_EQUAL_IF</mutator>
-    <description>removed conditional - replaced equality check with true</description>
-    <lineContent>if (!isVarInOperatorDeclaration &amp;&amp; operator.getType() == TokenTypes.LITERAL_IF) {</lineContent>
-  </mutation>
-
   <mutation unstable="false">
     <sourceFile>VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java</sourceFile>
     <mutatedClass>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.coding.VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck</mutatedClass>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
index 82c2500748b..d1b5a08ffb5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ private static boolean isVariableInOperatorExpr(
 
         // Variable may be met in ELSE declaration
         // So, check variable usage in these declarations.
-        if (!isVarInOperatorDeclaration && operator.getType() == TokenTypes.LITERAL_IF) {
+        if (!isVarInOperatorDeclaration) {
             final DetailAST elseBlock = operator.getLastChild();
 
             if (elseBlock.getType() == TokenTypes.LITERAL_ELSE) {