 During the Soviet era it was part of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast and was called Leningori (Ленингори; ლენინგორი) after Vladimir Lenin.It was renamed Akhalgori by the Georgian SSR government at the end of 1990.During the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War the town remained under Georgian jurisdiction after most of South Ossetia broke away from the central government's control.