Europe seen higher; markets eye Fed meeting

European equities are expected to open higher on Monday as investors look ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting beginning on Tuesday.

With the Fed's next statement set to be released on Wednesday following its meeting, investors are on tenterhooks to see whether the Fed will drop the word "patient" from its guidance about the pace at which it will normalize monetary policy.

Meanwhile in Asia on Monday, Chinese shares led gains in the region, touching a more than five-year high on rising stimulus bets. However, growing expectations for a sooner-than-expected rate hike in the U.S. and lower oil prices capped advances elsewhere in the region.

In other news, Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, faces a fierce storm of criticism in his own country after he posed for a photo shoot for French lifestyle magazine Paris Match.

In an interview with CNBC Friday, the minister, known for his outspoken remarks, refused to comment on "particular stories in the press" but said he tried not to be a liability, before walking out of the interview.

In other news, on the first anniversary of the Crimean referendum in the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the ceasefire between the two countries looks tenuous.

Ukraine's president accused Russian-backed separatists in the east of failing to respect a ceasefire with Ukrainian troops and called for further sanctions on Russia in comments to a German newspaper to be published on Monday, according to a Reuters report.

Meanwhile, the continued absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to fuel rumors in the media about his whereabouts. On Sunday, a Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on a report from the independent news outlet Dozhd that said Russian President Vladimir Putin had not been in Moscow for the last several days, Reuters reported.