diff --git a/api/index.php b/api/index.php
index a061e80205761db2bddf2783501dbde797850699..c468823e14a68d67b432fa97d5f2f629a4daa47b 100644
--- a/api/index.php
+++ b/api/index.php
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 	if (!init_plugins()) return;
 
 	if (!empty($_SESSION["uid"])) {
-		if (!\Sessions\validate_session()) {
+		if (!Sessions::validate_session()) {
 			header("Content-Type: text/json");
 
 			print json_encode([
diff --git a/backend.php b/backend.php
index 14d461c9fa261439b8304f62945cde07fb118abf..a56847111a1fb0fee4ca33147102e68302acbd37 100644
--- a/backend.php
+++ b/backend.php
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 	}
 
 	if (!empty($_SESSION["uid"])) {
-		if (!\Sessions\validate_session()) {
+		if (!Sessions::validate_session()) {
 			header("Content-Type: text/json");
 			print Errors::to_json(Errors::E_UNAUTHORIZED);
 
diff --git a/classes/Sessions.php b/classes/Sessions.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7bd050d32cab36128681da0cc3c782970a519b1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/classes/Sessions.php
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+<?php
+require_once 'lib/gettext/gettext.inc.php';
+
+// TODO: look into making this behave closer to what SessionHandlerInterface intends
+class Sessions implements \SessionHandlerInterface {
+	private int $session_expire;
+	private string $session_name;
+
+	public function __construct() {
+		$this->session_expire = min(2147483647 - time() - 1, max(\Config::get(\Config::SESSION_COOKIE_LIFETIME), 86400));
+		$this->session_name = \Config::get(\Config::SESSION_NAME);
+
+		if (\Config::is_server_https()) {
+			ini_set('session.cookie_secure', 'true');
+		}
+
+		ini_set('session.gc_probability', '75');
+		ini_set('session.name', $this->session_name);
+		ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 'true');
+		ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', $this->session_expire);
+		ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime', '0');
+
+		// prolong PHP session cookie
+		if (isset($_COOKIE[$this->session_name])) {
+			setcookie($this->session_name,
+				$_COOKIE[$this->session_name],
+				time() + $this->session_expire,
+				ini_get('session.cookie_path'),
+				ini_get('session.cookie_domain'),
+				ini_get('session.cookie_secure'),
+				ini_get('session.cookie_httponly'));
+		}
+	}
+
+	public function open(string $path, string $name): bool {
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	public function close(): bool {
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @todo set return type to string|false, and remove ReturnTypeWillChange, when min supported is PHP 8
+	 * @return string|false
+	 */
+	#[\ReturnTypeWillChange]
+	public function read(string $id) {
+		$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare('SELECT data FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id=?');
+		$sth->execute([$id]);
+
+		if ($row = $sth->fetch()) {
+			return base64_decode($row['data']);
+		}
+
+		$expire = time() + $this->session_expire;
+
+		$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare("INSERT INTO ttrss_sessions (id, data, expire)
+			VALUES (?, '', ?)");
+		return $sth->execute([$id, $expire]) ? '' : false;
+	}
+
+	public function write(string $id, string $data): bool {
+		$data = base64_encode($data);
+		$expire = time() + $this->session_expire;
+
+		$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare('SELECT id FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id=?');
+		$sth->execute([$id]);
+
+		if ($sth->fetch()) {
+			$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare('UPDATE ttrss_sessions SET data=?, expire=? WHERE id=?');
+			return $sth->execute([$data, $expire, $id]);
+		}
+
+		$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare('INSERT INTO ttrss_sessions (id, data, expire) VALUES (?, ?, ?)');
+		return $sth->execute([$id, $data, $expire]);
+	}
+
+	public function destroy(string $id): bool {
+		$sth = Db::pdo()->prepare('DELETE FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id = ?');
+		return $sth->execute([$id]);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @todo set return type to int|false, and remove ReturnTypeWillChange, when min supported is PHP 8
+	 * @return int|false the number of deleted sessions on success, or false on failure
+	 */
+	#[\ReturnTypeWillChange]
+	public function gc(int $max_lifetime) {
+		$result = Db::pdo()->query('DELETE FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE expire < ' . time());
+		return $result === false ? false : $result->rowCount();
+	}
+
+	public static function validate_session(): bool {
+		if (Config::get(Config::SINGLE_USER_MODE)) return true;
+
+		$pdo = Db::pdo();
+
+		if (!empty($_SESSION['uid'])) {
+			$user = ORM::for_table('ttrss_users')->find_one($_SESSION['uid']);
+
+			if ($user) {
+				if ($user->pwd_hash != $_SESSION['pwd_hash']) {
+					$_SESSION['login_error_msg'] = __('Session failed to validate (password changed)');
+					return false;
+				}
+
+				if ($user->access_level == UserHelper::ACCESS_LEVEL_DISABLED) {
+					$_SESSION['login_error_msg'] = __('Session failed to validate (account is disabled)');
+					return false;
+				}
+
+				// default to true because there might not be any hooks and this is our last check
+				$hook_result = true;
+
+				PluginHost::getInstance()->chain_hooks_callback(PluginHost::HOOK_VALIDATE_SESSION,
+					function ($result) use (&$hook_result) {
+						$hook_result = $result;
+
+						if (!$result) {
+							return true;
+						}
+					});
+
+				return $hook_result;
+
+			} else {
+				$_SESSION['login_error_msg'] = __('Session failed to validate (user not found)');
+				return false;
+			}
+		}
+
+		return true;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/classes/UserHelper.php b/classes/UserHelper.php
index 7cc7b31509ff6511958a10ba680abb673e5e9cdb..92c39776470886c37706e6f5a6b87663c62c6739 100644
--- a/classes/UserHelper.php
+++ b/classes/UserHelper.php
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ class UserHelper {
 			startup_gettext();
 			self::load_user_plugins($_SESSION["uid"]);
 		} else {
-			if (!\Sessions\validate_session())
+			if (!Sessions::validate_session())
 				$_SESSION["uid"] = null;
 
 			if (empty($_SESSION["uid"])) {
diff --git a/include/sessions.php b/include/sessions.php
index 00a0db081bf0bc694d973bb66618cace5f05030b..cee2702befabfc500865b458df7b7057d3b602bb 100644
--- a/include/sessions.php
+++ b/include/sessions.php
@@ -1,148 +1,18 @@
 <?php
-	namespace Sessions;
+namespace Sessions;
 
-	use UserHelper;
+require_once 'autoload.php';
+require_once 'errorhandler.php';
 
-	require_once "autoload.php";
-	require_once "errorhandler.php";
-	require_once "lib/gettext/gettext.inc.php";
+$sessions = new \Sessions;
 
-	$session_expire = min(2147483647 - time() - 1, max(\Config::get(\Config::SESSION_COOKIE_LIFETIME), 86400));
-	$session_name = \Config::get(\Config::SESSION_NAME);
+if (\Config::get_schema_version() >= 0) {
+	session_set_save_handler($sessions);
 
-	if (\Config::is_server_https()) {
-		ini_set("session.cookie_secure", "true");
-	}
-
-	ini_set("session.gc_probability", "75");
-	ini_set("session.name", $session_name);
-	ini_set("session.use_only_cookies", "true");
-	ini_set("session.gc_maxlifetime", $session_expire);
-	ini_set("session.cookie_lifetime", "0");
-
-	// prolong PHP session cookie
-	if (isset($_COOKIE[$session_name]))
-		setcookie($session_name,
-			$_COOKIE[$session_name],
-			time() + $session_expire,
-			ini_get("session.cookie_path"),
-			ini_get("session.cookie_domain"),
-			ini_get("session.cookie_secure"),
-			ini_get("session.cookie_httponly"));
-
-	function validate_session(): bool {
-		if (\Config::get(\Config::SINGLE_USER_MODE)) return true;
-
-		$pdo = \Db::pdo();
-
-		if (!empty($_SESSION["uid"])) {
-			$user = \ORM::for_table('ttrss_users')->find_one($_SESSION["uid"]);
-
-			if ($user) {
-				if ($user->pwd_hash != $_SESSION["pwd_hash"]) {
-					$_SESSION["login_error_msg"] = __("Session failed to validate (password changed)");
-					return false;
-				}
-
-				if ($user->access_level == UserHelper::ACCESS_LEVEL_DISABLED) {
-					$_SESSION["login_error_msg"] = __("Session failed to validate (account is disabled)");
-					return false;
-				}
-
-				// default to true because there might not be any hooks and this is our last check
-				$hook_result = true;
-
-				\PluginHost::getInstance()->chain_hooks_callback(\PluginHost::HOOK_VALIDATE_SESSION,
-					function ($result) use (&$hook_result) {
-						$hook_result = $result;
-
-						if (!$result) {
-							return true;
-						}
-					});
-
-				return $hook_result;
-
-			} else {
-				$_SESSION["login_error_msg"] = __("Session failed to validate (user not found)");
-				return false;
-			}
-		}
-
-		return true;
-	}
-
-	if (\Config::get_schema_version() >= 0) {
-		// TODO: look into making these behave closer to what SessionHandlerInterface intends
-		session_set_save_handler(new class() implements \SessionHandlerInterface {
-			public function open(string $path, string $name): bool {
-				return true;
-			}
-
-			public function close(): bool {
-				return true;
-			}
-
-			/**
-			 * @todo set return type to string|false, and remove ReturnTypeWillChange, when min supported is PHP 8
-			 * @return string|false
-			 */
-			#[\ReturnTypeWillChange]
-			public function read(string $id) {
-				global $session_expire;
-
-				$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare('SELECT data FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id=?');
-				$sth->execute([$id]);
-
-				if ($row = $sth->fetch()) {
-					return base64_decode($row['data']);
-				}
-
-				$expire = time() + $session_expire;
-
-				$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare("INSERT INTO ttrss_sessions (id, data, expire)
-					VALUES (?, '', ?)");
-				return $sth->execute([$id, $expire]) ? '' : false;
-			}
-
-			public function write(string $id, string $data): bool {
-				global $session_expire;
-
-				$data = base64_encode($data);
-				$expire = time() + $session_expire;
-
-				$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare('SELECT id FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id=?');
-				$sth->execute([$id]);
-
-				if ($sth->fetch()) {
-					$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare('UPDATE ttrss_sessions SET data=?, expire=? WHERE id=?');
-					return $sth->execute([$data, $expire, $id]);
-				}
-
-				$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare('INSERT INTO ttrss_sessions (id, data, expire) VALUES (?, ?, ?)');
-				return $sth->execute([$id, $data, $expire]);
-			}
-
-			public function destroy(string $id): bool {
-				$sth = \Db::pdo()->prepare('DELETE FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE id = ?');
-				return $sth->execute([$id]);
-			}
-
-			/**
-			 * @todo set return type to int|false, and remove ReturnTypeWillChange, when min supported is PHP 8
-			 * @return int|false the number of deleted sessions on success, or false on failure
-			 */
-			#[\ReturnTypeWillChange]
-			public function gc(int $max_lifetime) {
-				$result = \Db::pdo()->query('DELETE FROM ttrss_sessions WHERE expire < ' . time());
-				return $result === false ? false : $result->rowCount();
-			}
-		});
-
-		if (!defined('NO_SESSION_AUTOSTART')) {
-			if (isset($_COOKIE[session_name()])) {
-				if (session_status() != PHP_SESSION_ACTIVE)
-						session_start();
-			}
+	if (!defined('NO_SESSION_AUTOSTART')) {
+		if (isset($_COOKIE[session_name()])) {
+			if (session_status() != PHP_SESSION_ACTIVE)
+					session_start();
 		}
 	}
+}