  We develop an approach for constructing the Baxter Q-operators for generic
sl(N) spin chains. The key element of our approach is the possibility to
represent a solution of the the Yang Baxter equation in the factorized form. We
prove that such a representation holds for a generic sl(N) invariant R-operator
and find the explicit expression for the factorizing operators. Taking trace of
monodromy matrices constructed of the factorizing operators one defines a
family of commuting (Baxter) operators on the quantum space of the model. We
show that a generic transfer matrix factorizes into the product of N Baxter
Q-operators and discuss an application of this representation for a derivation
of functional relations for transfer matrices.
