diff --git a/debian/i2p.init b/debian/i2p.init
index 3b61904de0de8570d7add05cb3b94038c971179a..4826117fbf54809276056ae1fd20e084fe7d9c2b 100755
--- a/debian/i2p.init
+++ b/debian/i2p.init
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ do_start()
         || return 1
     [ -d $RUN ] || mkdir $RUN > /dev/null 2>&1
     [ -d $I2PTEMP ] || mkdir $I2PTEMP > /dev/null 2>&1
+    [ -d "/var/log/$NAME" ] || mkdir "/var/log/$NAME" > /dev/null 2>&1
     if [ -r $PIDFILE ]; then
         PID="$(cat ${PIDFILE})"
         if ! kill -0 $PID > /dev/null 2>&1; then
diff --git a/debian/i2p.service b/debian/i2p.service
index 4199e99108377515b8e0ea9465be008730559a58..0d4008254f7fff5d0713935efa60272ba41222f4 100644
--- a/debian/i2p.service
+++ b/debian/i2p.service
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ User=i2psvc
 PermissionsStartOnly=true
 AppArmorProfile=system_i2p
 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/i2p-daemon
+ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/log/i2p
 ExecStartPre=/bin/chown -R ${I2PUSER}:${I2PUSER} /var/log/i2p /run/i2p /tmp/i2p-daemon
 ExecStartPre=/bin/chmod 750 /var/log/i2p
 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/wrapper "$I2P_ARGS"