diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/options/options.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/options/options.go
index e31b2a14f22..d5473fed69a 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/options/options.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/options/options.go
@@ -337,9 +337,6 @@ func (f *KubeletFlags) AddFlags(mainfs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.StringVar(&f.CertDirectory, "cert-dir", f.CertDirectory, "The directory where the TLS certs are located. "+
 		"If --tls-cert-file and --tls-private-key-file are provided, this flag will be ignored.")
 
-	fs.StringVar(&f.CloudProvider, "cloud-provider", f.CloudProvider, "The provider for cloud services. Specify empty string for running with no cloud provider. If set, the cloud provider determines the name of the node (consult cloud provider documentation to determine if and how the hostname is used).")
-	fs.StringVar(&f.CloudConfigFile, "cloud-config", f.CloudConfigFile, "The path to the cloud provider configuration file.  Empty string for no configuration file.")
-
 	fs.StringVar(&f.RootDirectory, "root-dir", f.RootDirectory, "Directory path for managing kubelet files (volume mounts,etc).")
 
 	fs.Var(&f.DynamicConfigDir, "dynamic-config-dir", "The Kubelet will use this directory for checkpointing downloaded configurations and tracking configuration health. The Kubelet will create this directory if it does not already exist. The path may be absolute or relative; relative paths start at the Kubelet's current working directory. Providing this flag enables dynamic Kubelet configuration. The DynamicKubeletConfig feature gate must be enabled to pass this flag; this gate currently defaults to true because the feature is beta.")
@@ -388,6 +385,10 @@ func (f *KubeletFlags) AddFlags(mainfs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.MarkDeprecated("experimental-mounter-path", "will be removed in 1.23. in favor of using CSI.")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.ExperimentalCheckNodeCapabilitiesBeforeMount, "experimental-check-node-capabilities-before-mount", f.ExperimentalCheckNodeCapabilitiesBeforeMount, "[Experimental] if set true, the kubelet will check the underlying node for required components (binaries, etc.) before performing the mount")
 	fs.MarkDeprecated("experimental-check-node-capabilities-before-mount", "will be removed in 1.23. in favor of using CSI.")
+	fs.StringVar(&f.CloudProvider, "cloud-provider", f.CloudProvider, "The provider for cloud services. Set to empty string for running with no cloud provider. If set, the cloud provider determines the name of the node (consult cloud provider documentation to determine if and how the hostname is used).")
+	fs.MarkDeprecated("cloud-provider", "will be removed in 1.23, in favor of removing cloud provider code from Kubelet.")
+	fs.StringVar(&f.CloudConfigFile, "cloud-config", f.CloudConfigFile, "The path to the cloud provider configuration file. Empty string for no configuration file.")
+	fs.MarkDeprecated("cloud-config", "will be removed in 1.23, in favor of removing cloud provider code from Kubelet.")
 }
 
 // AddKubeletConfigFlags adds flags for a specific kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration to the specified FlagSet
diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
index 3639ce18b1f..ebd220c44e8 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
@@ -524,9 +524,7 @@ func run(s *options.KubeletServer, kubeDeps *kubelet.Dependencies, featureGate f
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			if cloud == nil {
-				klog.V(2).Infof("No cloud provider specified: %q from the config file: %q\n", s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
-			} else {
+			if cloud != nil {
 				klog.V(2).Infof("Successfully initialized cloud provider: %q from the config file: %q\n", s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
 			}
 			kubeDeps.Cloud = cloud
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/plugins.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/plugins.go
index c1dcee7903f..3a7c4c09f4f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/plugins.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/plugins.go
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ func InitCloudProvider(name string, configFilePath string) (Interface, error) {
 	var err error
 
 	if name == "" {
-		klog.Info("No cloud provider specified.")
 		return nil, nil
 	}