diff --git a/changelog.d/13952.bugfix b/changelog.d/13952.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6af20f051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/13952.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a bug introduced in v1.68.0 where Synapse would require `setuptools_rust` at runtime, even though the package is only required at build time.
diff --git a/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py b/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
index 66f1da7502..3b1e205700 100644
--- a/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
+++ b/synapse/util/check_dependencies.py
@@ -66,6 +66,21 @@ def _is_dev_dependency(req: Requirement) -> bool:
     )
 
 
+def _should_ignore_runtime_requirement(req: Requirement) -> bool:
+    # This is a build-time dependency. Irritatingly, `poetry build` ignores the
+    # requirements listed in the [build-system] section of pyproject.toml, so in order
+    # to support `poetry install --no-dev` we have to mark it as a runtime dependency.
+    # See discussion on https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/issues/6154 (it sounds
+    # like the poetry authors don't consider this a bug?)
+    #
+    # In any case, workaround this by ignoring setuptools_rust here. (It might be
+    # slightly cleaner to put `setuptools_rust` in a `build` extra or similar, but for
+    # now let's do something quick and dirty.
+    if req.name == "setuptools_rust":
+        return True
+    return False
+
+
 class Dependency(NamedTuple):
     requirement: Requirement
     must_be_installed: bool
@@ -77,7 +92,7 @@ def _generic_dependencies() -> Iterable[Dependency]:
     assert requirements is not None
     for raw_requirement in requirements:
         req = Requirement(raw_requirement)
-        if _is_dev_dependency(req):
+        if _is_dev_dependency(req) or _should_ignore_runtime_requirement(req):
             continue
 
         # https://packaging.pypa.io/en/latest/markers.html#usage notes that
diff --git a/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py b/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
index 5d1aa025d1..6913de24b9 100644
--- a/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
+++ b/tests/util/test_check_dependencies.py
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ class TestDependencyChecker(TestCase):
     def mock_installed_package(
         self, distribution: Optional[DummyDistribution]
     ) -> Generator[None, None, None]:
-        """Pretend that looking up any distribution yields the given `distribution`."""
+        """Pretend that looking up any package yields the given `distribution`.
+
+        If `distribution = None`, we pretend that the package is not installed.
+        """
 
         def mock_distribution(name: str):
             if distribution is None:
@@ -81,7 +84,7 @@ class TestDependencyChecker(TestCase):
                 self.assertRaises(DependencyException, check_requirements)
 
     def test_checks_ignore_dev_dependencies(self) -> None:
-        """Bot generic and per-extra checks should ignore dev dependencies."""
+        """Both generic and per-extra checks should ignore dev dependencies."""
         with patch(
             "synapse.util.check_dependencies.metadata.requires",
             return_value=["dummypkg >= 1; extra == 'mypy'"],
@@ -142,3 +145,16 @@ class TestDependencyChecker(TestCase):
             with self.mock_installed_package(new_release_candidate):
                 # should not raise
                 check_requirements()
+
+    def test_setuptools_rust_ignored(self) -> None:
+        """Test a workaround for a `poetry build` problem. Reproduces #13926."""
+        with patch(
+            "synapse.util.check_dependencies.metadata.requires",
+            return_value=["setuptools_rust >= 1.3"],
+        ):
+            with self.mock_installed_package(None):
+                # should not raise, even if setuptools_rust is not installed
+                check_requirements()
+            with self.mock_installed_package(old):
+                # We also ignore old versions of setuptools_rust
+                check_requirements()