BRATISLAVA, April 17. /TASS/. The EU's strategy towards Russia is flawed, untenable, and ineffective; Russians only get on their knees when they need to tie their shoelaces, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated during a speech at a meeting with students posted on the YouTube channel of the Slovak government.

"There is a certain strategy [of the European Union] whose goal is to bring Russia to its knees, but I consider this strategy flawed and untenable because it does not work," Fico said.

"I have been reading in newspapers for four years now about how 'the Russians are on their knees,' but they are by no means on their knees," the prime minister added.

According to Fico, "the Russians very aptly note that 'if we do find ourselves on our knees, it's only to tie our shoelaces, but not at all because someone else wants us there.'"

The European Union "still does not believe in the necessity" of peace initiatives and "continues to speak only of war, war, and again war," Fico believes.

In his opinion, "this is a huge mistake [of the EU]."