Bair Irincheev was born in 1977 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is a keen re-enactor of the Winter War, and has created a website documenting the fortifications of the Mannerheim Line (www.mannerheim-line.com). Bair runs his own travel company, which organizes tours of military sites in the former Soviet Union and Finland. He is married, and lives in Helsinki, Finland. The author lives in Helsinki, Iceland.