diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b224cc63343317de587a9217a620a6af350af606..b0e6bc36cf8e7f45ed4f929390c2f468395da3d0 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ site:
     - apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends python3-pip python3 make git wget software-properties-common
     - wget -O pandoc.deb https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases/download/2.18/pandoc-2.18-1-amd64.deb && dpkg -i pandoc.deb && rm --interactive=never pandoc.deb
     - pip3 install -r requirements.txt
-    - echo "CHECKOUT_BRANCH: $CHECKOUT_BRANCH UPSTREAM_BRANCH: $UPSTREAM_BRANCH"
+    - "echo \"CHECKOUT_BRANCH: $CHECKOUT_BRANCH UPSTREAM_BRANCH: $UPSTREAM_BRANCH\""
     - git clone https://gitlab.gwdg.de/GAUMI-fginfo/fg-website-data.git content --branch $CHECKOUT_BRANCH
   script:
     - make publish
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ deploy:
   stage: deploy
   needs: [ "site" ]
   before_script:
-    - echo "CHECKOUT_BRANCH: $CHECKOUT_BRANCH UPSTREAM_BRANCH: $UPSTREAM_BRANCH"
+    - "echo \"CHECKOUT_BRANCH: $CHECKOUT_BRANCH UPSTREAM_BRANCH: $UPSTREAM_BRANCH\""
     # see https://filipsjanis.com/articles/scp-upload-files-gitlab-ci.html
     # the following script is taken from https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/ssh_keys/README.html
     - 'DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update -y'