NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that American Edmond Pope flew out of Moscow today, pardoned by Russian president Vladimir Putin and freed from a 20-year prison sentence for espionage. He was taken to a U.S. military hospital in Germany, where he will be examined for any signs of the cancer he once suffered. His wife says he is in poor health after eight months in prison. Russian prosecutors charged Pope with trying to buy the blueprints for a Russian torpedo. Pope insisted he was a legitimate businessman, seeking technology that was advertised abroad.
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