If a user is not interested in the history (metadata) of his transactions, "importaddress" and "importprivkey" don't require a wallet with pruned blockchain to download the whole blockchain again (the utxo set is enough).

As I have checked, it is possible in pruned mode to import addresses but they will only show new incoming transactions not the last UTXO value.

When this feature is available, it becomes possible in pruned mode to import the private keys of a paper wallet into a hot wallet.

I have first discussed this issue with experts on Reddit here: https://redd.it/4w9s6q