Baxter Q-operator and functional relations

We obtain the Baxter Q  -operators in the Uq(slˆ2) invariant integrable models as a special limits of the quantum transfer matrices corresponding to different spins in the auxiliary space. We derive the Baxter equation from the well-known fusion relations for the transfer matrices. Our method is valid for an arbitrary integrable model corresponding to the quantum group Uq(slˆ2), for example for the XXZ-spin chain.