I'm pretty sure it is a direct quote. He didn't say, 'he said something to the effect of' or something else. He just quoted the official directly, and in the same vein as what the previous commenter pointed out, you wouldn't expect the editor of one of most important newspapers in the world to not know how to use quotes.

That is, by definition, describing the meeting. Paraphrasing is when you say in other words, generally shorter ones, what somebody else said.

What's your evidence that it's not a direct quote? Aside, of course, from your personal disbelief that a government official would say something ridiculous.